Afraid of the Dark
by Jelp
Summary: Sometimes the monsters are closer than you think. NaruSasuNaru
1. Chapter 1: Monsters

The initial idea for this story was inspired after reading Hina88's "Incubus" which can be found on AdultFanFiction dot Net as

The initial idea for this story was inspired after reading Hina88's "Incubus" which can be found on AdultFanFiction dot Net as well as FanFiction dot Net. I had no idea what an incubus was, so I while I read the first part, I kept thinking of what type of "monster" it might be. So, it inspired me to write this. There will be different "monsters/creatures" in this fic.

Thanks again to Hina88 for letting me use the "idea" even if it's so different from "Incubus." Her fic still inspired this one. This story is dedicated to her!

I also blame four other factors for this story: lL0tus for scaring me as she _forced_ me to watch horror movies (you know how easily I get spooked!), the _Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter_ series (by Laurell K. Hamilton) which has got my mindset heavily geared into the supernatural, Stephenie Meyer's latest book, _Breaking Dawn, _for fueling my over-active imagination, and my own childhood memories deciding to suddenly resurface in inspiring the creation of this story.

**Please note:** The first couple of chapters are done from Sasuke's _young_ point of view. The tone of the story will mature as he does after the time jump.

Special thanks to Ladelle for reading over the first chapter!

**Afraid of the Dark**

**Chapter 1: Monsters**

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"There's a monster outside my room, can I have a glass of water?" – _Signs_ by M. Night Shyamalan.

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When light fades to darkness, many things fall asleep. Young Uchiha Sasuke knew that. He also knew that when darkness fell a lot of things also woke up, some of those things more frightening than others.

It was late, and Sasuke was still awake, wishing he had fallen asleep. He also hoped that those frightening things that woke up with darkness wouldn't bother him.

Even though midnight had since passed where Sasuke lived, the light from the street lamp in between his and his neighbor's house still glowed, making shadows appear in Sasuke's room. Wind rustled the leaves and made the high branches creak outside his third story window. The shadows of the tree branches swayed along with the creaking, ghosting over his bedroom walls, dancing eerily.

Even with the light of the street lamp, Sasuke thought the room was too dark.

Not that he was going to admit that to anyone though, especially not his father. Sasuke had turned six just three days ago, and his father and mother had told him that he was old enough to go without his night-light now. Actually, his father had been trying to get rid of the thing since his fourth birthday, but his mother had stood her ground, sticking up for her youngest son. However, when Sasuke had proudly professed that he was a grown-up kid now that he was six (something his older brother had snorted at) his father had said that to prove it that the night-light had to go.

So it had gone, right along with Sasuke's sense of protection.

He was afraid of the dark, but he didn't want anyone to know (though he knew his mom did). At least she hadn't told Itachi. Itachi would laugh at him and tell him what a foolish, cute little brother he was. Sasuke knew Itachi liked him and all, but he didn't like Itachi thinking he was foolish especially now that he was a grown-up kid!

Yet Sasuke knew he wasn't foolish. He had a very good reason for being afraid of the dark, but he thought Itachi wouldn't believe him. His mom hadn't believed him.

Sasuke had only ever shared his fear of the dark with his mom. He'd told her about the secret reason he feared the dark, and after her disbelief, he didn't bother sharing his secret with anyone else. It still sent chills racing through him when he remembered the horrifying creature.

The mere thought of it made a shiver run through Sasuke, and he curled up a bit tighter under his covers. Shaking, he clenched his bed sheets, forcing himself not to think of the monster. He wished he'd never seen the thing; he wished he could forget it, but he couldn't. He knew it was real even if his mom hadn't believed him. She'd soothed him and told him it was a bad dream. She had _promised_ him it wasn't real.

Sasuke knew better. There _was_ a monster.

He'd only seen the monster once, but that one time had been burned into his mind for good. Sasuke had gotten up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. As he walked down the hallway on the way back to his room with the sound of the toilet still flushing behind him, he had felt something cold coming towards him from behind. Just as he reached his room the coldness had gotten shockingly stronger. Fear had gripped him, but he had still turned, as though automatically, as though the _thing_ had forced him to. Sasuke could still remember the shape of the monster, the coldness that seemed to suck the life out of him, even from way down the hall.

His frightened eyes locked with the monster's glowing ones.

Sasuke had backed up in fear. His back met his bedroom door. Sasuke moved further back, the door moving with him. He hadn't latched the door properly, and he suddenly stumbled into his room, the door swinging open wide. The light from his room flooded into the hallway. The light from his precious night-light caught the monster by surprise. Grayish looking arms came up to block its face to protect it from the light. It had hissed at Sasuke, a sound so terrible that he still had nightmares about it. But it didn't attacked Sasuke. Instead, it kept its arms in front of its face and had fled, tearing down the stairs, knocking a picture frame from off the wall.

That was how Sasuke had known the monster had been real; the picture had been lying on the steps the next morning.

The glass hadn't broken or cracked like it would have in one of those horror movies that Itachi always loved to watch (though Sasuke hadn't known that the covering of his parent's photo was actually just plastic which was why it hadn't shattered). When he had seen the picture still lying on the steps the next morning he had told his mom about the monster and told her that the monster had done it.

She had soothed him and told him monsters weren't real.

She also told him it was okay if he had accidentally knocked the picture down and that there was no need to make up stories. If Sasuke hadn't been so scared of the monster, he would have been mad that his Mom thought he'd done it and was telling lies.

From then on Sasuke tried not to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. A part of him feared that the monster would be out in the hallway again. A part of him wondered if the monster only came out at night after he had flushed the toilet.

The few times he couldn't hold it in and had to pee really bad in the middle of the night, he had made sure to leave his bedroom door wide open, the light from his night-light visible from down the hall. Of course, Sasuke had also made sure to run really, _really _fast back to his room as soon as he had flushed the toilet.

As he got older, he got smarter. He just didn't flush if he peed in the middle of the night.

He'd been four the first time he'd seen the monster. Two years had since passed, and he hadn't seen the monster since. Maybe he had scared it away, or maybe his mom had been right; there had never been a monster in the first place. Or maybe the monster was one of those that only certain people could see. And maybe not flushing the toilet was keeping the monster from coming back.

Still, as Sasuke lay in bed, trying to keep his eyes closed, trying not to watch the way the shadows of the tree branches looked like long fingers stretching out to grasp him in their clutches, he tried to remember that there was nothing to be scared of. There were no monsters under his bed. The shadows were just that, shadows. Creatures didn't live in his closet, and the noises he heard were just the house settling. Of course, it would help if he knew what his mother had meant when she said the house was "settling," but he trusted that his mom knew, and that was enough for him. As long as he didn't flush the toilet in the middle of the night he was safe from that monster too. He should be perfectly okay to fall asleep.

Not to mention he was really tired. He had hardly slept since the night before his sixth birthday three days ago.

Sasuke hadn't been able to sleep very much the first night and hadn't been able to sleep at all the second night. The first night Sasuke kept seeing ghostly shadows dance across his walls. These shadows hadn't been present before due to the brightness of his night-light, so the new and unusual shapes kept catching Sasuke's attention. Sometimes they looked like long fingers reaching for him.

Other times they looked like the shapes of people moving outside his bedroom window, which made Sasuke fearful of flying monsters. Only when the light of morning came did Sasuke finally managed to curl out from underneath the pile of blankets that had been much too hot at the end of July even with the central air conditioning running. He'd finally slept when morning light had come.

Sasuke's mother had come in to wake him at the usual hour, 8:00, but she had known immediately that her son hadn't slept well. Her son was usually already awake before she came in, but instead, her little light-sleeper was hard to rouse from dreamland after his first attempts at sleeping without a night-light.

Uchiha Mikoto petitioned her husband, Fugaku, for the return of her son's night-light. He had merely tsked at the idea, saying that Sasuke had only spent one night without it, and that it would just take a little time for him to get used to it.

The second night before bed, she had pulled the window shade down in Sasuke's bedroom all the way, explaining to her intelligent young son that if the room became pitch-black, he would not see any shadows. No shadows would mean that it would be less scary than seeing those long shadows of the tree branches, right?

_Wrong._

It had been much worse for Sasuke. In the pitch-blackness of his room, his eyes wide and fearful, he could hear so much better. With the lack of sight to focus his attention on, his sense of sound enhanced, he could hear things that he had never remembered hearing before.

What was that noise from above him? What was that sound from down the hall? What was the creaking noise at the top of the step?

The sound of his door squeaking made him jump in his bed, and he sat there, clutching his covers, wishing he could see if anything was around him. His body was paralyzed with too much fear for him to get out of bed and turn on the light or to walk to the window and raise the shade to see if there was anything in the room.

He hadn't slept at all that night because by morning he hadn't been able to tell when light had come since his window shade was so thick that it truly kept out all light.

Finally, on the third day, he'd decided to try to sleep without the window shade pulled down. His mother had told him that they would replace it with blinds to see if letting in a little light in would be better than letting in no light at all. Sasuke had a feeling that it wouldn't matter, but perhaps he just had to get over his fear. There was really nothing that would hurt him, right? Monsters weren't in his house, right?

Convinced that perhaps he was just being silly, and convinced that as a six year old he was much more grown up than being a five year old, he finally began to drift off to sleep. His body was tired, and he could feel his eyelids drooping; he could feel his body getting heavier as his mind began to grow blissfully peaceful.

_Clink._

Sasuke jolted wide-awake at the sound. His heart hammered fast at the sound of the noise, and he sucked in his breath holding it in as he listened for the sound again. His eyes flew to the window, and his body relaxed ever so slightly when he realized that the noise was coming from _outside_ his window. He froze for half a second as he heard the _clink_ come again, but he relaxed even more when he was actually able to identify the dull clinking noise.

He knew the sound well. There was a storm grate in front of his neighbor's house, almost directly under the streetlamp. The neighbor's yard had lots of white, decorative round stones covering the front part of their property where a lawn should be. It apparently meant much less yard work than having a lawn as his neighbor had told him once. Even so, the smooth stones were too tempting not to want to pick them up and throw, and what better practice than to throw rocks through the open storm grate?

Sasuke knew it was late, and it was still dark without his night-light, but the sound of someone throwing rocks past midnight made him climb out of bed and walk over to his window. He pressed his face against the glass of the window. It was cooler than normal since it was so close to the central-air vent, and Sasuke breathed on it to warm it up some. The glass fogged, but he wiped it off so he could see out of it again. Craning his neck for a good angle, he looked to see who was throwing rocks.

It was easy to see who was making the noise. The boy throwing the rocks sat on the curb directly under the same street lamp that gave off the light to make shadows come into Sasuke's bedroom window. The boy had blond hair and looked like he was wearing pajamas. The boy kept throwing the stones, making _clink _after _clink _after _clink_ as the white stones disappeared through the grate openings and down into the sewer below.

Sasuke looked at the other boy in annoyance. The boy had woken him up just when he had been ready to fall asleep!

After a minute of watching the stones disappear, Sasuke noticed that the other boy was crying.

Sasuke frowned, watching as the boy would take a handful of stones from behind him, one by one tossing them with a _clink_ in between the metal bars of the storm grate. His other hand periodically wiped tears away from his face or used his arm to wipe away the snot dribbles running down from his nose.

Normally Sasuke knew that boys shouldn't cry, and if this boy was six, not five, then he was more grown up now too and _really_ shouldn't be crying. Still, Sasuke couldn't help but feel bad for the other boy. He looked so sad and lonely.

Forgetting about his fear of the dark, forgetting that he ought to change into something other than pajamas, Sasuke walked out of his bedroom, down the steps, and to his front door. He unlocked the door with a loud _click_ before opening the heavy door and walking outside.

He turned immediately to see that the boy had jumped up, his full attention turned toward Sasuke. Apparently the other boy had heard the door open even from across the street.

"Stop throwing the stones! You're too loud. I was sleeping," Sasuke grunted and padded down his front walk, feeling the smooth surface beneath his feet. He noted that it was much cooler to walk barefoot now than it had been during the day, so he walked on the street, which was normally too hot to walk on barefoot on the black pavement in July, over to the other boy who stood staring at him, almost fearfully.

As Sasuke got closer to the other boy, he looked less fearful. Sasuke stopped several feet from him, tilting his head to the side. He'd seen people act like this toward his father when they weren't sure what to make of him, and he remembered what his father had done, so Sasuke mimicked him.

"Uchiha Sasuke," Sasuke said, reaching out his hand for a handshake. The blond boy looked at him, looked at his hand, and then looked back at Sasuke's face as he reached out his own hand to shake Sasuke's.

"Uzumaki Naruto," the boy, Naruto said. They shook hands briefly before they dropped them to their sides awkwardly.

"How old are you?" Sasuke finally asked curiously.

"Five and three quarters," Naruto said, tilting his face up slightly. He looked like he was trying not to cry.

"So you're still five then," Sasuke said, with a knowing nod.

"I'm five and three quarters," Naruto repeated, sounding more stubborn and looking a little less gloomy now that he had to defend his age. Of course Sasuke knew, as all kids their age knew, that being five and three quarters meant that they were better than just five year olds, but Naruto wasn't six yet. Sasuke was six.

"I'm six. You're crying. If you were six now, you wouldn't be allowed to cry," Sasuke said knowingly. Naruto frowned at him, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"I wasn't really crying. I was pretend crying," Naruto said, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" Naruto continued, looking around him as though Sasuke's parents would materialize from nowhere. Sasuke frowned, not liking how this boy tried to sound older by asking him parent-type questions.

"You're out on the street with no parents around. You're going to get in trouble."

"You're out on the street with no parents either!" Naruto pointed out. Sasuke pointed a thumb to his chest.

"I'm six," Sasuke stated.

"Well, still!" Naruto pouted. Sasuke made a sound of irritation. Naruto didn't seem to know that there was a _big_ difference between five and three quarters and six. Some kids didn't know how big a difference there was.

"Shouldn't you be at home?" Sasuke asked. Not answering right away, Naruto sat back down on the curb and pulled his knees up close to his chest.

"I can't go home," Naruto whispered, and he sounded really sad again.

"Why not?" Sasuke asked, sitting next to Naruto. Itachi had always told him that older kids should take care of younger kids. It's what the older kids did, so Sasuke took it upon himself to make sure that Naruto got home okay. He was being a good grown up kid! If he could do this, then perhaps he would feel better about sleeping without the nightlight.

"They took my mom," Naruto whispered, scrunching his legs up tighter against his chest. "And they took my house. I don't have anywhere to go. And I want Mom back," Naruto said, his voice getting higher pitched as he began to cry again, burying his face into his knees.

Sasuke didn't know what to say. He frowned. People couldn't take houses. People could take other people. That was called kidnapping. Sasuke could even spell it. Itachi had taught him. But Sasuke had never heard of house-napping. He didn't think you could move a house like that.

But still, Naruto was upset. His Mom had been kidnapped, and Sasuke knew that when people where kidnapped you had to call the police. But he didn't think that Naruto had done that. If he didn't have a house, he probably didn't have a phone to call the police with either.

"Who's 'they?'" Sasuke couldn't help but ask, suddenly looking around him. If there were bad guys that had taken Naruto's Mom and Naruto's house then maybe they would come back for Naruto like in the movies. Feeling suddenly scared, Sasuke wondered if they would take him too.

"The monsters," Naruto whispered. Sasuke, who had been looking around for bad guys, suddenly whipped his head around to look at Naruto.

"M-monsters?" Sasuke asked breathlessly. Naruto looked up at him, and half-sighed half-sniffed.

"You don't believe me. Mom didn't believe me either, but they took her," Naruto explained through a hiccup as tears still streamed down his face.

"No-no! I believe you, but are the monsters after you _now_?" Sasuke asked, looking around him again, more terrified than before.

"I don't know!" Naruto sobbed again. "I thought you were one of them at first! But you came into the light, so I knew you weren't one," Naruto said, wiping tears again.

A feeling of coldness swept through Sasuke. "They" were afraid of light just like the monster from his house!

"Do they have gray skin and glowing eyes?" Sasuke asked. Naruto looked up at him, his face frozen in surprise.

"How-how do you know that? Have you seen them?" Naruto asked, looking around them too as though he thought Sasuke might have seen one lurking in the next yard over.

"I saw one, once," Sasuke said, half-afraid though half-relieved that someone else had seen the monster too. "It was scared of light," Sasuke explained. Naruto nodded.

"That's why I'm under the street-lamp," Naruto said, pointing at it. Sasuke nodded in understanding before looking back toward his house. He shivered, glad that nothing had gotten him when he walked over to Naruto, but now unsure of how to get back to his house. "I have a flashlight," Naruto said, understanding that Sasuke wanted to go back to his house. Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out a green flashlight that had a frogmouth opening where the light emerged.

"We can go back to my house," Sasuke explained. "And then we can call the police and tell them about your Mom being kidnapped," Sasuke said, already planning on telling Itachi that he wasn't foolish and how much of a grown up he was being.

"We can't call the police," Naruto said suddenly. Sasuke looked at him. "It's really late. They're probably all asleep right now."

"I didn't mean right now, I meant in the morning," Sasuke half-lied. He hadn't thought about the fact that the police would probably be sleeping. It was really late after all. He had meant right then, but what Naruto said had made sense. The police might be angry if they called so late, but he didn't want Naruto to know that a five and three quarter year old had thought of something that a six year old hadn't.

"I can sleep over?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, but..." Sasuke trailed off, feeling less and less grown up all of a sudden. "They took my nightlight away because I'm grown-up now," Sasuke said sheepishly. There was no need for Sasuke to explain that his "they" were his parents.

"We'll just sleep with all the lights on. Much safer that way," Naruto said, wiping his eyes again.

"Okay," Sasuke agreed. Naruto clicked on his frog flashlight, and the two of them made it back to Sasuke's house. Sasuke led the way with Naruto close behind him. Even so, Sasuke couldn't help but go extra slow, listening for monsters as he walked back through his house, up the steps, and into his bedroom. He quickly turned on the light in his room and closed the door.

Naruto stood standing with his back almost up against the wall.

"Under the covers, harder to find us there," Naruto whispered.

"Right," Sasuke whispered back. Sasuke got under the blankets first, pulling them up over his head, Naruto slipping underneath the covers a moment later.

Sasuke had expected it to be hot underneath the covers, but Naruto, who was shivering, shaking, and still crying, felt strangely cold. He wondered if he was sick, but it didn't matter.

"You're cold," Sasuke whispered to Naruto under the blankets. He couldn't see him that well, but he could feel Naruto's hand still clutching the frog flashlight between them as the metal flashlight bumped against Sasuke's hand.

"You're warm," Naruto whisper-sniffed his response. Neither said anything for a few minutes before Naruto finally whisper-sniffed, "Good night."

"Night."

Sasuke felt Naruto wrap his arm around him, and Sasuke let him. Since Sasuke was a grown-up kid now, he knew that kids cuddled up against grown-ups when they were cold and scared. Naruto was both. (Sasuke was scared too, but he didn't let Naruto know that.)

Sasuke, feeling better with the lights on, hiding under the covers with his new friend Naruto – because of course they had to be friends if they were fighting (well, sort of fighting) monsters together – fell asleep almost immediately.

When Mikoto entered her youngest son's room the next morning, she half chuckled as she noticed all the lights on in his room. The chuckle died in her throat as her eyes swept the room, landing first on the covers that had been thrown off the bed, and then onto the bed itself.

The sight on the bed made her freeze in her spot. She clutched her chest, seeing not only her son but also another boy lying on the bed –

Both smeared in blood.

She screamed.

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_Children believe in fairy-tales. They believe in monsters too. ~ Jelp_

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**Next Chapter: Just the Beginning**

Sasuke's fear of monsters-that-appear-when-flushing-the-toilet is stemmed from my own three/four year old imagination. I really thought a monster would appear if I flushed the toilet in the middle of the night and didn't get back to my bedroom fast enough. Sadly, it never occurred to me just to not flush the darned toilet. Ah well. The whole monsters-are-afraid-of-light-thing also was something that made me rely on my own night-light to prevent monsters from getting me. I didn't get rid of my night-light till I was seven because I thought a lot of monsters were afraid of light just like people were afraid of the dark. Haha.

A lot of Naruto and Sasuke's reasoning in this chapter came from my own childhood reasoning. It's hysterical to remember what I used to think when I was a kid! Hope you enjoyed the chapter! ~ Jelp


	2. Chapter 2: Just the Beginning

**Afraid of the Dark**

**Chapter 2: Just the Beginning**

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"By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes." _Macbeth_. William Shakespeare

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Sasuke shot up in bed upon hearing his mother shrieking. For half a moment he was disoriented as his young mind tried to figure out what was going on. Flashes of the night before rushed back, and he recalled the monster. Hearing his mother's shriek ringing in his ear all of the hairs stood on the back of his neck, and a wave of fear washed over him.

He looked around horrified, watching his mother as though in slow motion as she ran frantically toward him. Out of the corner of his eye, Sasuke watched Naruto jolt awake. Naruto sat up and looked around in alarm.

It was then in mortified shock that Sasuke realized that there was blood all over him, his bed, and Naruto.

"What's going on?" Naruto managed to get out just as Sasuke's mom laid hands on her son. She fumbled with his clothing, checking around for wounds. Sasuke put his hands on his chest also looking for wounds, but he realized there wasn't a wound and that _he_ wasn't bleeding. It took half a second for him to realize that that meant Naruto must be the one bleeding. As his head whipped to the side to look at Naruto, Sasuke's mom moved closer to Naruto.

"What did you do to him?" Mikoto shrieked, her hand flying toward Naruto's face. A loud crack split the air, and Sasuke watched in horror as Naruto's head snapped back, the momentum of his mom's hit sending Naruto tumbling over so that he fell off the bed. He landed with a heavy thud on the other side of his bed out of sight close to the open door.

Sasuke wanted to stand up and see if Naruto was okay, but his mother quickly wrapped her arms around him so tight that he couldn't do it.

"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled. He heard Naruto moan in pain, and Sasuke struggled against his mother to see if he was okay.

"Don't go near that boy!" Mikoto screeched.

"What in the world is – _kami-sama_!" Fugaku stood in the doorway to his son's door, taking in the blood and the scene in front of him, his eyes seeing things that his wife and son could not from that angle. "Who's this kid and why are there claw marks down his back?"

Mikoto's body froze, her arms going ever so slightly limp around Sasuke, and Sasuke took no time in throwing his mom's arms off of him so that he could see what was wrong with Naruto. He half-crawled half-leapt across his bed and looked down to see what he hadn't seen the night before.

It had never occurred to Sasuke that he hadn't seen Naruto's back at all the previous night, and he had never thought to ask if Naruto was okay. Naruto's mom had been kidnapped and his house house-napped. Sasuke hadn't even asked how that had happened. How had Naruto seen the monsters and gotten away okay? But apparently he hadn't gotten away okay.

It looked like Naruto had gotten hurt fighting off or running from the monsters. Yet why didn't Naruto say he was hurt last night if he was bleeding so much? Was he really bleeding?

But the proof was there. Naruto had landed on his stomach leaving his back facing up. Long claw marks left wide, gaping gashes in his back.

Naruto had said there were monsters and more than ever Sasuke believed him. Naruto had never had his back faced to Sasuke, but Sasuke could clearly see the rips and tears in the pajama top where shreds of cloth hung off his back now. Dried blood caked the pajamas red.

It must have been bleeding last night: bleeding a lot, especially with all the blood that was on his bed and on him too. It had started bleeding again now as well.

"He's hurt!" Sasuke said, yelling more to his mom than to his dad. She'd hit him. "And you hit him!" he yelled accusingly.

"I thought – the blood – _his smell_ – it was on you – "

"What the hell?" Itachi asked, peering in the room behind his father.

"Call an ambulance!" Fugaku yelled at Itachi. Sasuke knew that everything must be really bad for Itachi to curse and for his dad not to yell at Itachi _for_ cursing.

"Owww," Naruto moaned, his moan of pain muffled due to lying face down against the carpet. Sasuke stopped leaning over the bed and leapt completely off of it, careful not to land on Naruto. He got down on his hands and knees and got close to Naruto's face.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked as he scooted closer to Naruto.

"Are you still Sasuke?" Naruto asked back. Sasuke thought that was a weird question, but Naruto had hit his head. (Well, his mom had hit Naruto's head and Naruto had hit it again on the floor, but the point was Naruto had hit his head.) Sasuke knew that people who got hit in the head acted weird for a while.

"Yeah, it's me, Sasuke. But – are you okay? Your back is bleeding!"

"What? It is?"

"Move Sasuke," Fugaku ordered, and Sasuke moved back. He hadn't heard his father leave and re-enter the room, but he must have done so because he knelt next to Naruto with several towels from the bathroom. He gently placed the towels on Naruto's back to stop the bleeding. Naruto hissed in pain and looked like he was trying not to cry.

"The monsters hurt him," Sasuke said knowingly, worriedly. Fugaku turned and gave his son a strange look before he turned back to Naruto.

"What's your name?" Fugaku demanded, his voice quiet, but not quite friendly.

"Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto said hesitantly. Fugaku seemed almost surprised to hear the name. He turned to look at Sasuke and then shot a glance up toward where his wife sat leaning over the bed looking shocked and mortified that she had hit a hurt child.

"Indeed," Fugaku said. Sasuke wondered if his mom had hit his dad in his head earlier because "indeed" was such a weird thing to say when you found out someone's name. Fugaku's eyes held his wife's gaze for a long moment before his attention flickered back to Naruto. "I'm going to lift you up and put you on the bed," Fugaku explained to Naruto.

Naruto didn't answer as Fugaku picked him up, cradling him awkwardly as he laid Naruto down on his stomach. Mikoto scooted out of the way to make room for Naruto to lie down.

"Where did you and Sasuke meet?" Fugaku asked Naruto.

"We met at the street lamp," Naruto answered.

"The street lamp?"

"The one across the street," Sasuke said, pointing out the window where the street lamp was visible, even though it had since been turned off for the day.

"When did you meet? How long have you known each other?" Fugaku questioned frustrated. Sasuke hurriedly tried to answer, sensing his father's tone of voice that meant, "that wasn't the answer I was looking for. Try again."

"I heard him outside the window last night. He came over since he couldn't go home," Sasuke explained, but his father made no notion that he'd heard him, his attention focused on Naruto.

"What happened to your back?" Fugaku asked.

"I dunno."

"The monsters got you, didn't they Naruto?" Sasuke asked, thinking Naruto was a lot cooler than he had first thought for a five and three quarter year old. He supposed if he'd been hurt like that he would have been crying too.

"I-I guess so. I don't remember. I know the monsters got Mom and took the house," Naruto said, crying once again.

Fugaku and Mikoto shared a look that Sasuke didn't recognize as a six year old, but would later learn meant, "something is seriously wrong here."

"I bet the monsters clawed his back and made him forget," Sasuke reasoned. Fugaku turned to look at his youngest son.

"Sasuke, be _quiet_," Fugaku hissed. Sasuke's chest constricted at being addressed like that. His father seemed angry with him, and Sasuke had no idea why. Fugaku went back to asking Naruto several questions, his hand staying gently on the blue towels that were slowly turning red in spots. Sasuke stayed quiet, surprised when only a couple minutes had passed and Itachi came back upstairs followed by people that had on uniforms and had some of those funny things around their necks like doctors had.

The one that entered through the door first came to Sasuke, and Sasuke jumped when the man wearing white gloves began to poke and prod at his body.

"Stop it!" Sasuke said. "I'm not hurt – Naruto is," Sasuke said, and then pointed to where Naruto was on the bed to show who Naruto was. The man ignored him, but Sasuke didn't argue with the man as he saw several more people arrive and start to check and see if Naruto was okay.

* * *

The rest of the morning passed in a blur as Sasuke, despite telling everyone he was okay, had to be carried out of the house on one of those long boards. Naruto got carried out too, so Sasuke didn't feel quite as silly since Naruto had been taken out on one too. His mom had gone in the ambulance with them, holding both of their hands. The only cool part of the entire morning was that they got to go in an ambulance to the hospital and got to drive through all of the lights really fast. Still, it had only been partially cool because Sasuke had been worried about Naruto. They'd had to attach an IV of blood into his arm, and the sight made Sasuke slightly nauseous as he watched them poke different needles into Naruto's arm.

He wondered how badly the monsters had hurt him. Would he be okay?

The next part of the morning after he had been checked out by a doctor (he found out that the people who had come to his house were not quite doctors but called paramedics) he went and saw another doctor who wasn't dressed like the rest of the doctors in the hospital. His mom told him to be good for this doctor and to answer all the questions he asked. She gave him a kiss on his forehead and ushered him into the room, telling him that when he got done he'd finally be allowed to see how Naruto was doing. He hoped this would go quick so he could check up on his new friend.

"Be good for Dr. Ibiki," his mother said quietly before shutting the door behind him. As Sasuke entered the room his eyes landed immediately on the man behind the desk. The doctor had scars down his face, and Sasuke wondered why a doctor had so many scars if he was a doctor and was supposed to heal people.

"Hello Sasuke," Dr. Ibiki said. "Why don't you sit down?" Sasuke looked around nervously. Everything had happened so fast that morning that he finally took a moment to look around now that he seemed to have time. Dr. Ibiki had an office all to himself. The room was mostly brown with green cushioned seats and green drapes. Sasuke slid into one of the green chairs and scooted to the edge, feeling rather small as his feet still didn't reach the floor.

"If you're a doctor, why do you have scars on your face?" Sasuke asked. When the doctor just stared at him for half a moment, Sasuke swallowed, resisting the urge to scoot back into his chair. The tension left him as the doctor gave out a low, amused laugh.

"I'm not a normal doctor. I'm a psychiatrist. I don't heal bodies but rather minds."

Sasuke did shrink back this time, not liking the image of this guy touching his mind in order to make it better. The idea of the doctor's large hands touching his brain was rather scary – and rather gross.

"My head's just fine. Don't touch my brain," Sasuke said in the best grown-up kid voice he could muster. Dr. Ibiki laughed again.

"You're a laugh a minute kid. I don't touch your brain to "heal" it. You talk to me, and you tell me your thoughts, and then we heal your thoughts, so to speak. Do you understand?"

Sasuke swallowed. No, he didn't really understand, but he wasn't going to tell the doctor that. The doctor scared him. Instead of speaking, Sasuke merely nodded. The doctor lifted a clipboard from off his desk along with a pen.

"Let's start with some easy questions," Dr. Ibiki said. "First, how old are you?" Sasuke sighed in relief. That really _was_ an easy question.

"I just turned six four days ago," Sasuke answered. Dr. Ibiki began to write.

"When was the first time that you met Naruto?"

"Last night."

"Where did you meet him?"

"Under the street lamp," Sasuke paused, remembering how his father had wanted Naruto to give more details, "which is across the street from my house."

"Do you know what time it was when you saw him?"

"Yes."

Dr. Ibiki looked up at Sasuke, slightly amused. "What time was it?"

"It was after midnight. I...I couldn't sleep because I don't have my nightlight any more," Sasuke muttered quickly. He didn't want the doctor to think that he was a bad kid and stayed up late when he wasn't supposed to.

"I see. Were you watching out the window when Naruto appeared?"

"Umm...no."

"What made you look out the window?"

"Naruto was throwing the white stones in the neighbor's yard into the storm grate. It made a noise and startled me awake."

"I thought you said you couldn't sleep."

"Well – I couldn't at first but then I was almost asleep and the noise made me wake up."

"Was Naruto bleeding then?"

"I don't know. I didn't look at his back. I saw him and he was crying. I went outside, and he said he was scared of me because he thought I was a monster but I'm not, and he said he knew that afterward because I came into the light and he had been attacked by monsters and his mom was kidnapped, which is spelled with two p's, not one, and his house was housenapped but I don't know how to spell that, and I don't know how that happens, but that's what he said," Sasuke blurted out in a rush. Dr. Ibiki didn't speak for a moment, and Sasuke felt stupid for blurting everything out. His father would have yelled at him for spouting out so much at once. He would have told him that a good son would have been able to explain it better.

"He said monsters kidnapped his mother?" Dr. Ibiki asked, writing furiously.

"Yes."

"And his house was...housenapped?"

"Yes."

"I've never heard of a housenapping before," Dr. Ibiki said. Sasuke was glad that the doctor hadn't heard of it either. It made him feel less silly.

"I hadn't either. Maybe Naruto was making it up, but he knew about the monsters, and I met one before, and the monster was scary enough that maybe he could do it."

Dr. Ibiki looked up sharply from where he was writing down.

"You met a monster before?" Sasuke gripped the end of his chair and began to shake his feet back and forth but then stopped. His father always said that it made him look foolish when he did that. His sons should behave so they would never look foolish.

"A while ago. I flushed the toilet and it appeared," Sasuke said. As soon as he said it, he wished he hadn't. It sounded so stupid, and he blushed. "Well, I saw it after I flushed, so maybe flushing the toilet didn't make it appear, but I think it made it appear."

Sasuke looked down at his feet. He wished he'd changed into something other than his pajamas when they had tried to give him hospital clothes. There was still blood on his, and he felt really silly in them. The doctor kept giving him strange glances, and it felt like it did when he talked to grown-up adults that didn't believe him. He was a grown-up kid now, so the grown-up adults should listen to him. At least, he thought that was what was supposed to happen.

"What did the monster look like?" Dr. Ibiki asked. Sasuke fiddled with a speck of blood on his pajamas, and he felt so bad because it was Naruto's blood. Maybe they should have called and woken up the police last night instead of waiting. Maybe Naruto wouldn't be in the hospital right now, and maybe Dr. Ibiki wouldn't be asking him all these questions that made him feel stupid. "What did the monster look like?" Dr. Ibiki repeated.

"The one I saw was from a couple years ago. It had grayish skin and glowing eyes. It didn't like light. The monsters Naruto saw were the same. He told me so."

Dr. Ibiki stopped writing on his clipboard. He set the clipboard down on the desk in front of him.

"Sasuke," the doctor said his name so sharply that he couldn't help but jump a little. He kept his head down so he wouldn't have to look at the doctor and his many scars. "Monsters do not appear when you flush the toilet." Sasuke felt his face flush. Of course part of him had known that, and of course part of him had known that Dr. Ibiki, just like his mom, wouldn't believe him. It still made him feel embarrassed though. "But there are other things that make monsters appear."

Sasuke's head snapped up to look at the doctor in front of him.

"You _believe_ me?" Sasuke asked. Dr. Ibiki raised his hand and slowly traced a few of the scars across his face.

"These scars are from a monster that sounds very much like the one that you and your friend have met." Sasuke's eyes widened in horror.

"So the scars on Naruto's back were from them," Sasuke whispered, mortified. Dr. Ibiki nodded. He got up out of the chair from behind the desk, and he looked even more intimidating as he stood up.

"This..._monster_...as you call it, can be very dangerous in certain circumstances. I have met quite a few different types of "monsters" over the years. Some types are actually quite nice the majority of the time," Sasuke couldn't believe that the monster he had seen could ever be nice, especially if monsters could hurt Naruto like that. Then again, Dr. Ibiki said there were different types, so may the other type was nice. Dr. Ibiki's tone became suddenly harsh again.

Sasuke wondered why a monster would ever attack Dr. Ibiki. If Sasuke were a monster, he would stay far away from Dr. Ibiki.

"The monster you saw, the type of monster that hurt Naruto, is very dangerous. The claws that these monsters have are even more dangerous than other creatures' because they can hurt a person very badly, yet the person who is hurt will not feel pain at all. Imagine Naruto's situation. He was bleeding but had no idea that he was hurt. He could have bled to death without ever knowing he was bleeding. There are very few who can survive an attack from that type of monster. In fact, Naruto would never have been able to stay alive if you hadn't found him when you did. It's hard to explain to you now, but you saved Naruto's life."

"I did? So Naruto's okay?" Sasuke asked. He had thought that that was what the monster could do: hurt people and make them not realize they were hurt! He'd been right. His dad had seemed mad when he had said that, but now the doctor had said the same thing. Sasuke felt a little less silly now, especially since he had helped Naruto.

"Yes," Dr. Ibiki said, and he smiled so that his scars stretched strangely over his mouth. He put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder, and he looked pleased with him. Sasuke gave a half smile back, but his smile faltered when the doctor's smile vanished. Dr. Ibiki got down on one knee and looked directly into Sasuke's eyes. "You must now make me a promise, Sasuke."

"A – a promise?" Sasuke asked.

"You must promise never to tell anyone else about the monsters."

"What about Naruto?" Sasuke asked after a moment of thought.

"You can talk to him, but only him. Don't talk about it, not even your mom or dad. Not even your brother, but especially not your parents. It will just be our secret."

"I promise. But why-"

"Good."

"But-"

"Don't worry. _I_ promise that as long as you stay close to Naruto, no more monsters will come after you."

"But – but – I just met Naruto last night! I can't stay close to him. He, well, I know his mom and his house are gone now, but doesn't he have to go somewhere? Don't his mom and house need to be found?" Dr. Ibiki gave Sasuke a searching look.

"I've persuaded your parents to let him stay with your family. I have a feeling it will take time to find Naruto's mother and house. That's if they are still around. I have a feeling no one may ever find them. And in the meantime, I want you to stay very close to Naruto. Sleep in the same room if at all possible."

"Oh," was all that Sasuke could manage to say. He didn't know what to think. He knew that he and Naruto were friends now because only friends battled monsters in the movies, and he guessed it kind of made sense that Naruto had to come and live with him now. In the movies the friends always stuck together, so he guessed he shouldn't be too surprised that Naruto was going to be living with him and his family now.

Still, as Dr. Ibiki ushered him out of the door, he couldn't help but shrug off the strange feeling that something wasn't right. The idea of Naruto staying at his house didn't seem to feel right; instead of feeling like less monsters would be around, it felt like there would be more. It definitely didn't feel right.

In fact, it felt very, very wrong.

* * *

_Even after one evil has been destroyed, there's always something even more terrifying that comes along to challenge the hero(es) of a story. ~ Jelp_

* * *

**Next Chapter: Hiding the Truth**

The next chapter and possibly chapter 4 will still be when they are younger, but the chapter after that will have a large time jump. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Let me know what you thought. ~ Jelp


	3. Chapter 3: Hiding the Truth

**Afraid of the Dark**

**Chapter 3: Hiding the Truth**

* * *

"Words create lies. Pain can be trusted." - _Audition_, Miike Takashi

* * *

"What did Dr. Ibiki talk to you about?" Mikoto asked her son gently as he emerged from the office.

Sasuke scratched the back of his head thoughtfully as he tried to figure out what exactly to tell his mom. He knew that he wasn't supposed to talk to her about the monsters, so he would have to be careful about what he said. Thinking so hard about it made his stomach clench in knots. It felt like that time when he had broken the arm of the chair in the dining room. It had made him feel so guilty that it had made him sick to his stomach keeping it all to himself until he had finally told his mom what had happened.

"Just wanted to make sure the thoughts in my head were okay," Sasuke said, grateful that the doctor hadn't actually touched his brain or head or anything like that. Of course, what he had said had given young Sasuke a lot to think about.

They began walking from the doctor's office back to the main waiting room, but Sasuke barely noticed where his feet headed as his mind whirled.

As Sasuke was a very intelligent child, he understood that what Dr. Ibiki had said was important, but as he was still young, he didn't understand the importance of everything that was going on.

He did know that something special and strange had happened, and it excited Sasuke.

Of course, he was still somewhat worried about Naruto, so that dulled his excitement.

"Where's Naruto?" Sasuke asked. Mikoto smiled at her son strangely.

"He's getting another check up. He's doing much better, and he'll be coming home with us. You'll have someone to play with your own age, doesn't that sound nice?" Mikoto asked her son, smiling in that way parents do when they're not sure how their kids will take certain news.

Sasuke nodded. Dr. Ibiki had told him that Naruto would be coming back to their house now.

"His mom is gone, and so is his house. We're going to make sure he's okay, right?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes, yes of course dear. Now, we don't want to upset Naruto, so why don't we not mention how his mom and his house are missing? We might make Naruto sad if he thinks about it too much. We can make it seem like he's staying with us for fun!" Mikoto said, trying to distract her son from the topic.

"Will the police find Naruto's mom? And what about his dad? Did his dad get kidnapped too? Where is he at? Was he working really late like Dad does sometimes?" Sasuke asked.

"You see, Sasuke sweetie, sometimes mommies and daddies don't stay together. Sometimes the dad has to go away in order to do some work for the family to make money, but they are not able to come back."

"And sometimes the dad walks out and leaves the kid all alone because they can't handle the responsibility right?" Sasuke asked as he plopped himself down into one of the chairs in the waiting room. Mikoto looked taken aback.

"Where did you hear that?"

"When Itachi had to baby-sit me one time he told me that if I didn't behave that you and Dad would leave me all by myself because I'd become too big a responsibility," Sasuke explained. "He also told me I was adopted, but I didn't believe him."

"I only told you those things because it's the duty of the older brother to antagonize and strike fear into the heart of his younger brother. It's how the world works," Itachi said as he appeared seemingly out of nowhere. It gave Sasuke the creeps when his brother materialized out of nowhere like that.

Sasuke peered around his mom and saw that Itachi had in fact just exited out of the men's bathroom.

"Itachi, you shouldn't tell Sasuke things like that. He'll believe you."

"He just said he didn't. No harm done," Itachi said as he sat down next to Sasuke and poked his forehead. Sasuke grumbled, and Itachi smirked before his expression turned very serious. "What happened?"

But Sasuke didn't get a chance to answer as Naruto appeared in the waiting room. Sasuke could see bandages peeking out from underneath Naruto's hospital issued clothes. Fugaku stood behind him looking tired.

"We're ready to go," Fugaku said as he motioned for Naruto to head outside. Itachi, Mikoto, and Sasuke all got up as one, and followed behind them.

There was complete silence on the way home from the hospital. It felt awkward. Sasuke wanted to ask so many questions, but he knew his father hated it when he babbled about things. Naruto had fallen asleep as soon as he was in the car, and Itachi kept looking back and forth between Naruto and his parents in confusion. It was the first time that Sasuke had seen Itachi looking as curious as he usually felt.

Meanwhile, Sasuke realized that he hadn't used the bathroom since the night before, and he crossed his legs, finding that he really had to pee all of a sudden.

When they pulled into the driveway, Naruto woke up with a yelp. Everyone's eyes turned to look at him, and he grinned sheepishly.

"Ah, sorry," he said and rubbed the back of his head and made a face of discomfort. Mikoto winced, and Sasuke realized that Naruto was rubbing at the spot where his mom had hit him.

"It's okay dear. You've had a rough day. Just take it easy. No need to apologize for anything. I know we talked a little in the hospital, but you won't be able to go back home right now," Mikoto said kindly as she got out of the car and opened the door to let Naruto and her two sons out.

"Is he staying here with us?" Itachi asked confused as they walked up the front steps, but no one answered him directly.

"This will be your new home for a while," Mikoto said kindly to Naruto as she opened the front door of their home. Itachi looked mildly surprised, but Sasuke only saw this out of the corner of his eye as he watched Naruto frown at the door, not entering.

"Where's my mom and my house?" Naruto asked, his wide blue eyes turning to look up at Sasuke's mom with an expectant look on his face. Mikoto smiled gently, but there was a hint of something else in her eyes that Sasuke had never seen before.

"People are looking for them," Mikoto answered.

"But-"

"Naruto," Sasuke said, almost annoyed after a moment. "Hurry up."

Sasuke _really_ needed to use the bathroom.

Naruto and his mom still stood in the doorway, blocking the entrance.

"Sasuke, be nice to our guest," Mikoto said firmly, but kindly. Nonetheless she moved out of the way, and Naruto did the same. Fugaku entered followed by Itachi and Sasuke.

When Sasuke passed by him to head to the bathroom, Naruto reached out and grabbed his wrist.

"Why am I staying here with you?" Naruto asked Sasuke. Mikoto answered before Sasuke could say anything.

"Sweetie, when the police went to see where your house was..." Mikoto stopped, as though not quite sure what to say, "they found nothing there. _Nothing_. They tried calling relatives, but you said you didn't have any that you knew of. Since they couldn't find anyone to take you in, and there was no way to check your house for any phone numbers of people who knew you, you're going to stay here. Won't that be nice?"

"Why isn't he going to child social services?" Itachi asked thoughtfully. Sasuke watched as his father gave Itachi an almost scathing look. His father never gave Itachi that kind of look; Itachi was perfect. The faces of his parents seemed strained, and while Sasuke was young, he could always tell when his parents were not in a good mood. It was that look that they had on their face when he wanted to ask for something but knew if you did right then that he would get yelled at. It was the type of look that parents wore: the look the said if you wanted to talk to them, you would have to wait until that look went away.

Sasuke could tell something wasn't right with the situation, but he didn't understand what.

"What's so-sheal services?" Naruto asked, slurring over the unfamiliar word.

"Don't worry Sweetie. Don't worry about anything. Why don't I show you to your new room? We can get you some new things to make it how you like it. Doesn't that sound nice?" Mikoto asked sweetly.

"But...I wanna stay with Sasuke in his room," Naruto said, his grip on Sasuke's wrist sliding down so that he held Sasuke's hand, as though not wanting to let Sasuke go. Sasuke noticed that Naruto's hand was much warmer than it had been the night before.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Sasuke watched as his father took his brother aside and began to speak with him. They talked quickly and quietly, and Sasuke didn't hear much of their conversation other than his father say "he's similar to us" to Itachi. That didn't make much sense to Sasuke, so he ignored them again and instead focused on what his mom was saying.

"That...well...stay in Sasuke's room?" Mikoto asked uncertainly. "Is that okay Sasuke?" Mikoto asked hesitantly.

"Yes. We have to-" Sasuke was about to say that they had to figure out how to fight the monsters together, but Dr. Ibiki had told him not to mention that. However, Dr. Ibiki had said that he had to stay close to Naruto. "We have to." Sasuke repeated firmly without elaborating more. Dr. Ibiki had told them to stay close after all.

"O-okay. Well, why don't you show Naruto around Sasuke? Just take it easy. Naruto's still healing."

Sasuke didn't answer his mother as he gripped Naruto's hand in return and began to drag Naruto up to his room. As they went back up the steps, Sasuke began talking.

"Remember, this is my room. So you have to ask permission for things. And I'm older," Sasuke said, trying to get Naruto to realize that since he was six and Naruto was only five and three quarters that Naruto should look up to him like Sasuke looked up to Itachi. Sasuke pushed open his bedroom door and looked around. There was no blood on anything in his room any more, and it looked like Mom had even made his bed.

Naruto let go of Sasuke's hand and walked over to Sasuke's bed. He went to lie down onto his back.

"Don't lie on your back, stupid. It's all bandaged up," Sasuke said, rolling his eyes.

"Well I can't feel it! It doesn't hurt," Naruto said but rolled over onto his stomach anyway.

Sasuke felt excitement well up with him. It was daylight out now, and the events of the previous night seemed less frightening now, and much more exciting and adventurous.

"We have to figure out how to fight the monsters," Sasuke said, trying to hold in his excitement. That had to be why Naruto was really at his house; Ibiki wanted them to figure out how to fight off the monsters.

"Sasuke, I'm tired. I want to take a nap," Naruto said, and yawned. Sasuke turned to look at Naruto. He didn't know any five year olds that still took naps, but Naruto was hurt, and he knew that could make you sick. Maybe he was supposed to take a nap?

"Don't fall asleep yet. Wait. I have to go to the bathroom. When I come back we'll talk about the monsters."

Sasuke went to the bathroom as quickly as possible, trying not to think about monsters-who-appear-when-you-flush-the-toilet, even though Dr. Ibiki had said they weren't real. Or rather, the monster he had seen wasn't that kind. He hurried back to talk with Naruto, but didn't get to say anything else to him. He was already fast asleep. Sasuke scowled at Naruto. They had to start planning how to fight them right away! What if they came back? He shook his head. Sasuke looked at Naruto lying on his bed. There wasn't anything that Sasuke really wanted to do other than to figure out how to fight the monsters, but Naruto was sleeping.

Sasuke thought about waking Naruto up, but he was hurt. He should wait, right?

He decided to head down to ask his mom how long Naruto would stay with them for. They might not have that much time to figure out how to fight the monsters before Naruto went to that social service place Itachi had mentioned.

It took a while for Sasuke to find his mom. He was certain that she would be downstairs making food, but she wasn't there. She wasn't doing laundry; though she must have put some stuff in the washer because Sasuke could hear the machine running. After looking in other spots he usually found his mom, he finally heard her talking in her room. Sasuke was about to knock when he heard his father speak through the closed door.

"His home is over forty miles from here! How could he have gotten here on his own?" Fugaku asked.

"It must have been her. Poor Kushina," Mikoto said sadly. It sounded like she was crying. Sasuke scratched his head, wondering who Kushina was.

"Did she send him here?"

"I don't know. I just don't know. They said that the house is gone. Naruto had to have come here last night as his neighbors said that they saw his house yesterday. He couldn't have walked that far on his own. When Ibiki questioned him, all Naruto said was that he'd heard the monsters come into his house. When he'd finally told Kushina that they were there, she told him to keep running until he felt that it was okay to stop."

"Does he know? And did he get here on his own, or was Kushina involved?"

"I don't think he knows. I'm pretty sure he hasn't _asked_ about _it_ yet. I also believe that he can't do anything big yet. He seems too young and untrained to go forty miles on his own," Mikoto explained.

Forty miles away? That was a lot, wasn't it? Naruto couldn't have run that far all in one night. The Kushina-person must have driven him. There was no way that Naruto could have walked that far all in one night.

"Then she had to be involved. How else would Naruto have ended up by our house if he hasn't _asked_? She must have sent him here right before she was taken. Besides, his wounds were so bad that it would have killed him had he exerted the energy to get here on his own," Fugaku reasoned out.

"Poor, poor Kushina. I can't believe she's gone."

"I doubt that they could get rid of her. She's strong and powerful. Not to mention that her husband-"

"-hasn't been seen since Naruto's birth. I know the rumors say he's still alive, but I don't think so. The last time that I spoke with Kushina she said that she hadn't seen him in over five years and doubted that he was ever coming back."

Sasuke listened intently, not sure what was going on, but like earlier, had that feeling that there was something big that he was missing.

He'd seen something like this on one of those mystery shows two weeks ago.

"But can we truly keep Naruto here? What if more of those creatures come after him? What if he _asks_? It's one thing if Sasuke does, but how do we handle if Naruto does? I doubt that they would be able to get past the house's defenses without our knowledge, but they could do damage to the neighbors' homes."

"I think one came into our house before," Mikoto said quietly. Sasuke leaned closer when there was no sound. He thought that they had stopped talking before his father spoke at last.

"What? That's preposterous."

"I don't even remember how long ago it was, but Sasuke said that he saw a monster. He said that it knocked down a picture frame. I thought he had done it and blamed it on a childish creation, but what if he did see one?"

Sasuke's head was reeling. His parents knew about the monsters? How did they know? Did that mean that he could tell them about the monsters? Maybe Dr. Ibiki just didn't know that his parents had known. All he needed to do was, ask, right? They kept talking about asking.

"Doubtful. You would have sensed it. After all, you sensed the wounds on Naruto had been created by one of them."

Mikoto let out a sorrowful sound.

"I can't believe I hit that poor child. If I had been thinking, I would have known he couldn't have been one of them. He was under the light after all. It was just that the presence of the monster still lingered in the wounds. Those horrible, _horrible_ wounds were terribly infected, and he was so cold, like a corpse. I could tell that he had lost a lot of his energy because his body was like ice. Losing that much energy and blood should have killed him. Clearly he inherited his parents' strength and some of their abilities, and if it weren't for Sasuke..."

"I know. I didn't think Sasuke had it in him. I thought it was just Itachi who had inherited it. If we're lucky, he'll be asking us soon like Itachi did," Fugaku said, his voice sounding prideful.

Inherited it? Inherited _what_? Ask about _what_?

The pride in his father's voice sounded so strong, and Sasuke never remembered his father sounding that boastful when talking about him. But what were they talking about?

Sasuke leaned closer, waiting for his parents to explain more, when a hand grabbed his shoulder and whirled him around.

He stumbled back in shock, half expecting his parents to have materialized on the other side of the door to catch him eavesdropping, but was met with the cool eyes of his older brother.

"I think that's enough information for you," Itachi said quietly.

"Itachi-nii-san, do you know what they were talking about? Did you hear what they said?" Sasuke asked, looking up expectantly at his older brother to answer the question.

"Don't worry about it, otouto. It's better if you don't know. It's especially better if you don't ever ask. You won't remember any of it," Itachi said calmly. Sasuke looked at his brother in confusion.

"Yes I will. I-" but Sasuke's words were cut off when Itachi placed a finger to Sasuke's forehead, and Sasuke suddenly felt very heavy, very sleepy. The last thing he remembered was slumping to the floor feeling as though he had been forced to fall asleep on his feet.

And Sasuke didn't remember it. In fact, he didn't remember anything correctly of the past twenty-four hours...

* * *

There was something warm lying next to Sasuke, and he snuggled closer to it, wondering why he felt so cold all of a sudden.

"Were you tired too?" Naruto asked, groggily waking up as Sasuke snuggled closer to him.

Sasuke's eyes fluttered open, and he rubbed his head. He felt like someone was throwing stones at his forehead.

"I have a bad headache," Sasuke said and winced at the pain. He sat up in bed, and looked around.

How had he gotten to bed? Had he gone to bed when Naruto had? Hadn't he done something else? Sasuke frowned, trying to remember, but when he tried to think about what he did, his headache got worse.

"Oww," Sasuke groaned, rubbing his head, trying to remember. Maybe he had been dreaming? What had he been dreaming?

"I had a weird dream," Naruto said, rubbing his head. "There were monsters in it, but I don't remember much else," Naruto said.

"I think I dreamt about monsters too," Sasuke said, frowning.

"Itachi said we would get nightmares if we watched that horror movie with him last night," Naruto said, sitting up in Sasuke's bed, stretching, and looking around him.

Had they watched a movie last night? His memory seemed fuzzy, but something in his brain seemed to tell him that he had. Sasuke suddenly remembered Itachi telling them that they shouldn't watch the scary movie that he had been watching. They had anyway. And now, he and Naruto had both had weird dreams about monsters. Itachi had said that they would.

The memory seemed off, but he definitely had a memory of it. Yet why did it feel like there was something else he was supposed to remember?

"Were we supposed to do something?" Sasuke asked, rubbing his head. It hurt a lot, especially right in the center of his forehead as though something sharp had poked him there. Naruto frowned.

"I don't remember. My head kinda feels fuzzy," Naruto said, scratching his head.

Sasuke shook his head, trying to remember, but the more he thought, the worse the pain in his head got. He decided not to think about it.

"I'm hungry," Naruto said suddenly. Sasuke looked around, noticing that his clock said that it was almost dinnertime. They must have slept for a while.

"Hn," Sasuke said. "I'll show you where the kitchen is." Sasuke suddenly remembered that he was supposed to give Naruto a tour of their house since he would be staying there while Naruto's mom was in a coma at the hospital.

How had he forgotten that Naruto's mom was in a coma in the hospital? That was the reason Naruto was staying with them now.

That must have been what he had forgotten!

Convinced that he had figured out what he had forgotten, Sasuke led Naruto downstairs to eat, ignoring the dull throb in his forehead, not giving any more thought to his supposed dream about monsters.

He ignored the little voice in his head telling him that he needed to remember something very important.

Sasuke even ignored the little voice in his head telling him that he ought to be careful, careful of the feeling that something was watching him.

Sasuke was ignoring everything so well that he missed the pair of eyes that stared at him and Naruto through his bedroom window.

* * *

Never ignore that feeling in your gut. Instinct keeps you alive when logic fails. ~ Jelp

* * *

**Next Chapter: Running From A Forgotten Past**

There will be a time jump between this chapter and the next chapter. Hope you enjoyed this fic so far! Let me know what you think. ~ Jelp


	4. Chapter 4: Running From A Forgotten Past

**Afraid of the Dark**

**Chapter 4: Running From A Forgotten Past**

* * *

"There are a lot of things I can take, and a few that I can't. What I can't take is when my older brother, who's everything that I want to be, starts losing faith in things. I saw that look in your eyes last night. I don't ever want to see that look in your eyes again." Signs. M. Night Shyamalan

* * *

_12 Years Later..._

"Get up!"

Sasuke felt the wind leave his body as he was unceremoniously pushed out of his bed and onto the floor.

"What the fuck? I'm going to have another bruise on my arm," Sasuke muttered to himself tiredly, his face pressed into the plush carpeting of his floor. Even though he'd been quiet his words were still heard and answered.

"If you would get up on time, you'd have less bruises on your body," Naruto said, smirking. Sasuke couldn't see Naruto, but he didn't need to see him to picture the smirk: he could hear it in his voice. Sasuke growled darkly from his place on the floor. The lights in his room were turned on (there were always some light on in their room after all), but Sasuke knew that outside it would still be dark out.

Had anyone else pushed him out of his bed so rudely and roughly, he would have bounced back to his feet, punched them squarely in the face, used one of his well known judo kicks followed promptly by a lovely toss to the floor which would end with Sasuke slamming his elbow down into the sternum of his victim. Sadly, he was used to his best friend's more vivacious ways of waking him up. It irked Sasuke that it didn't bother Naruto's methods as much as it used to.

If Naruto were patient (which was very, _very_ rare) he would just gently shake Sasuke awake. If Naruto were slightly annoyed at his attempts to wake Sasuke up (which was the majority of the time) he would bounce on the bed until Sasuke woke up. If Naruto wanted Sasuke up as fast as possible (which didn't happen that often, but much more often than Sasuke would like it to) Sasuke would wind up face first on the floor.

"I would have less bruises on my body if you didn't roll me out of bed and onto the floor so often," Sasuke hissed angrily. Part of Sasuke wanted to stay on the floor. Having gotten used to Naruto randomly throwing him off the bed, and not understanding why Naruto was not deterred from doing so to him after many a death threat, throttlings, and beatings from Sasuke, Sasuke had made sure to heavily carpet his side of the bed. It resulted in (minus the initial air leaving his body onto the floor) him feeling quite content to lie on his heavily padded floor.

Something about Naruto had both a calming and irritable affect on Sasuke. He'd want to throttle Naruto one moment and then feel content to lay still for ages the next.

Of course Sasuke only did that when Naruto had left the room already and when there was little threat of Naruto coming back into the room and pouncing on him. Since Naruto had not left the room, Sasuke decided it would wound his pride too much to remain face down on the floor. He pushed himself off the floor, standing slowly so he could glare properly at Naruto who only grinned back at him in response.

"That glare won't work on me! You know what today is, right?" Naruto asked, looking excited, his bright blue eyes alive.

"Yes. So?" Sasuke asked, turning his back on Naruto as he headed to his side of the room to search his drawers for something to wear for school. He couldn't help but smirk as he heard the sound of annoyance that came from Naruto.

"You're such a bastard," Naruto grumbled as he too turned to his side of the room, searching through his drawers for something to wear. He sounded so dejected that Sasuke decided to not play this little game with Naruto.

"Happy eighteenth birthday Naruto," Sasuke said, turning around to face Naruto and gave him a half smirk before turning away again as they both changed.

"Thanks!" The dejected tone vanished instantly. Naruto was never one to hold a grudge. Instead, his mind wandered to something else. "Wow...eighteen. I remember when six seemed like I was old. What did we call ourselves at six?"

"Grown-up kids," Sasuke said, shaking his head at the memory. It seemed like ages ago that he had been a frightened six year old, thinking that he was more grown-up than Naruto for being all of six years old.

"Grown-up kids. Haha. Whatever happened to big boy?"

"Grown-up kid sounded cooler," Sasuke said, shaking his head at the thought.

"Does eighteen make me a young adult now?" Naruto asked. Sasuke shrugged, not answering him as he continued to get dressed. An unnamed article of clothing hit Sasuke in the back of his head. Sasuke's whipped around to yell at Naruto.

"What was that for?!" Sasuke demanded angrily.

"You didn't answer me!" Naruto accused.

"I shrugged my shoulders. It's an answer," Sasuke bit out, throwing the black piece of clothing back at Naruto. Naruto caught it, and Sasuke watched as Naruto pulled the black, long-sleeved shirt over his head.

"Well usually you grunt or make some other weird noise when you give your dissent."

Sasuke merely stared at Naruto, a look of slight shock on his face. Naruto turned to look at Sasuke and frowned at the expression on Sasuke's face.

"What?" Naruto asked.

"You're wearing black. And you used the word dissent. How do you know what the word dissent means?"

"You're an asshole! I'm not stupid; you're the stupid one you jackass!" Naruto yelled at him, looking around him for something else to throw at Sasuke before his efforts were thwarted by a new presence.

"Naruto-kun, watch the language. Sasuke-kun, don't antagonize him on his birthday," Uchiha Mikoto said as she waltzed into the boys' room, scooped up their discarded pajamas from the floor into the wash basket on her hip, and swept past Sasuke to give Naruto a peck on the cheek. "Happy birthday!" Mikoto said, smiling happily.

"Thanks Auntie!" Naruto said grinning at her happily.

"Was that permission to antagonize him on other days besides his birthday?" Sasuke muttered darkly to himself, but, as Mikoto was his mother, she had that knack for hearing him anyway.

"Of course not. I should have specified: especially not today on his birthday," Mikoto said, smiling kindly as she ruffled Sasuke's hair affectionately before sweeping out of the room as quickly as she had come in. Sasuke fixed his ruffled hair back into place before he turned back to Naruto and frowned at him.

Naruto merely smiled back at him.

"Why are you wearing all black?" Sasuke asked, noticing again that Naruto was wearing all black. It wasn't just the form-fitting, long-sleeved shirt that was black; the pants were too. Sasuke idly wondered if Naruto even owned black pants. Sasuke looked at the pants again, his frown turning into an annoyed scowl.

Apparently Naruto _didn't_ own black pants.

"Those are mine!"

"Aww, come on. They fit really nice. You're not wearing them today. You're wearing that," Naruto said, pointing to the ensemble that Sasuke had on. When Sasuke continued to scowl, Naruto added, "I'll wash them!"

"Mom will wash them, and that's not the point. You didn't ask, and I still don't get why you're wearing all black. It looks weird on you." Sasuke's frown returned. Naruto was a happy person by nature, and seeing him in all black on his birthday of all days just didn't seem like Naruto.

"I'm in mourning," Naruto finally said, with a sigh.

Naruto was in mourning? Sasuke's body felt like a wave of cold water swept through his body.

For twelve years Naruto had lived with Sasuke and his family. For twelve years, Naruto had become Sasuke's closest friend. For him to be in mourning, and for Sasuke not to know about it made Sasuke's thoughts rush back to nearly twelve years ago when Naruto had first come to live with them. Something nagged in the back of his mind.

Naruto had come to live with them because his mom was in a coma. The thing was, Naruto hardly ever visited his mother at the hospital. Sure she was in a coma, but Sasuke was sure that people should visit their loved ones in the hospital more.

Had Naruto's Mom died and Naruto hadn't told Sasuke? Was he mourning his mother?

Sasuke put a hand to his head, feeling a headache coming on at the thought. It always seemed to hurt his head when he thought about how Naruto's mother was in the hospital, as though there were something wrong with that memory. He shook his head and focused his attention back onto Naruto.

"Mourning?" Sasuke asked quietly.

"Of my youth! Didn't we just say I'm a young adult now? I'm no longer a kid! Isn't that so sad? Plus, all day today people will notice that I am wearing black and will ask me why and I can tell them because I'm in mourning, and then they'll ask me what I'm mourning, and I can tell them my youth because I turned eighteen today. Then everyone will know that today's my eighteenth birthday!" Naruto said enthusiastically. Sasuke's eye twitched.

On second thought, that seemed very much like Naruto, using a twisted and weird way to get attention.

"Don't let Lee hear that you're mourning your youth. He may do something to try and bring it back to life," Sasuke warned him.

"Yeah, yeah, but I'm not in the same class as him this year. I got moved up a class a while ago," Naruto said, seemingly hurt that Sasuke hadn't remembered that his improved test scores had gotten him moved up to a higher-class level. Sasuke all but rolled his eyes. Naruto had been at the bottom of their grade's test scores for their whole middle school experience.

Finally, Sasuke had been tired of people calling his best friend a dead last and a loser (despite the fact that Sasuke had started the name calling in the first place) and had helped Naruto bring his scores up. They rose so much that he had moved up so that he was actually in the same class level as Sasuke. Naruto now had the lowest scores in their class, but the low scores there were better than most of the high scores than in the other two lower leveled classes.

"Lee will still find out some how," Sasuke warned. Sasuke didn't particularly like Lee, even if Naruto did. Lee had been an upper classman that had had to repeat a grade level due to an injury that left him in the hospital and out of classes for quite a while.

Naruto looked thoughtful as the two of them descended the stairs to head to breakfast.

"That's true. He just seems to _know_ things. I still don't know how he found out I no longer had a crush on Sakura and threw me a party because of it," Naruto said, thoughtfully. Sasuke turned to look off to the side. He had told Lee because as lame as it was, Sasuke had been thrilled when Naruto had finally decided he didn't like Sakura as much as he used to. Not having many friends – no one really besides Naruto actually – he'd had to tell someone. As he couldn't tell Naruto, Lee was the only person Sasuke had thought of to tell who would share his 'enthusiasm'.

He'd deny that to anyone who asked him though, and if Lee ever told anyone, Sasuke would find a razor and shave Lee's head and eyebrows.

"Good morning otouto. Happy Birthday non-otouto," Itachi said monotonously from the kitchen table. He wasn't even looking up at them when they entered, his head stuck in the newspaper. If it weren't for the fact that Itachi always greeted them in such a way, no one would know he had just spoken to them from the way he was intently reading the stock market information on the Nikei Average.

"Morning Itachi! And thanks for the b-day greeting! Guess what? Today I'm going to..." Naruto began rambling off a bunch of random information to Itachi. Itachi sat, reading the newspaper, his eyes roaming over the stock charts and numbers on the paper before him, his face never once implying he was listening to any words that came out of Naruto's mouth. Naruto, for his part, didn't seem to notice that Itachi was blissfully and effectively in tuned with his numbers.

Sasuke had also always got the distinct impression that Itachi had more trouble than not ignoring Naruto. Itachi seemed fond of Naruto, but he also seemed easily annoyed by him. Naruto tried too hard to make Itachi pay attention to him, and Sasuke was both irritated and jealous by this fact. He wasn't sure if he was jealous due to the fact that Naruto was trying to get his brother's attention or if it was because Naruto wasn't trying to get _his_ attention.

"Here you go birthday boy! Your favorite for breakfast, Naruto," Mikoto smiled gently as she placed a large bowl of ramen in front of Naruto, effectively taking his attention away from pestering Itachi.

She likewise set a plate of food in front of Sasuke and Itachi. Naruto shouted an enthusiastic _Itadakimasu!_ as he eagerly began to inhale the bowl of ramen in front of him. While ramen flowed into Naruto's mouth, no words flowed out of him and the room was silent of talk for a minute.

"Morning." Uchiha Fugaku entered his kitchen gracefully. All eyes turned to him. Everyone murmured a polite and respectful good morning back, Naruto grinning at him happily. Sasuke watched his father look curiously at Naruto as he gave him a once over. "Black suits you. You should wear it more often. It makes you seem much more mature. And now that you are eighteen, you ought to act like an adult."

"Uh-thanks?" Naruto made it a question at the backhanded compliment.

"In fact, as an eighteen year old, I think it's high past time you got your own room. Your Aunt Mikoto and I are having a new king-sized bed brought in this afternoon to the third floor guest room."

Naruto seemed temporarily shocked at this news, his mouth hanging open slightly. Sasuke's shock was less noticeable, but the weight of Naruto moving out of their room seemed to hit him painfully right in the gut.

"But-" Naruto began, ready to protest, but Fugaku cut him off.

"And it will be much healthier for you and Sasuke both. Two eighteen-year-old males sleeping in the same bed is preposterous. You are young, and as such, will want to explore the opposite sex at some point and time. If you are brining a girlfriend back to the house, it's hard to do so when you not only share a room, but the same bed."

Naruto's face turned a bright shade of red at what Fugaku was implying, and Sasuke hoped that he wasn't blushing either as his father had implied that he expected him to be bringing home women to share his bed with.

Naruto looked like he wanted to protest, but didn't quite know how to do so. For the past twelve years they had shared the same room and the same bed. It was just how they had grown up together. Making Naruto move out on his eighteenth birthday didn't seem fair. That wasn't a birthday gift at all. That was punishment!

"Now you both should head off to school before you're late," Fugaku said.

"I'll drive them," Itachi said, getting up from the table. Sasuke looked at his brother. Itachi never offered to drive them to school. They always walked. Sasuke saw out of the corner of his eye that Naruto was likewise staring at Itachi with disbelief on his face.

Itachi's eyes met Sasuke's. It felt like Itachi was trying to silently tell him something, but what, he didn't know. Maybe Itachi was trying to get their minds off of the shock of Naruto moving into his own bedroom?

"Get ready, now," Itachi said quietly, his gaze leaving Sasuke's to lock eyes with Naruto. "Unless you want to walk in the rain on your birthday," Itachi said.

"Rain?" Naruto asked. As if on cue, a heavy downpour began to beat against the roof of the house.

Mikoto looked at Itachi questioningly. Fugaku's eyes narrowed at his eldest son. A strange tension filled the kitchen. Naruto looked across the kitchen table at Sasuke, and they both shared the same look of confusion. They both felt the tension, but Sasuke could tell that Naruto was just as clueless as to what was going on as he was.

"Sweetheart, I know it's Naruto's birthday, but you really don't have to do that. I can drive them-"

"It will be a much grander entrance for him if he goes in my car than yours, Mother. I need to leave for work early anyway," Itachi said, and he all but swept out of the kitchen. Sasuke and Naruto shared another look before they both hurried off to get their things.

Five minutes later, Sasuke and Naruto sat in the back of Itachi's brand new, and very expensive Mazda Nagare. Sasuke had never been in the car before, and he had to admit that while it was a very sleek and intense looking car, the unconventional seating style threw him off.

The driver's seat was located front and center, leaving the other three passenger seats to be spread out behind the driver as though banded behind it. Naruto and Sasuke sat in the two closest to the doors, their books stacked in the middle seat between them. Their umbrellas sat folded and dripping on the floor of the car.

As the backseat was shaped more like a U than a traditional backseat, Sasuke felt as though he were sitting almost face to face with Naruto with Itachi as the focal point.

"Don't forget to buckle up," Itachi said as he started the ignition and pulled out of the driveway.

Naruto didn't look at all deterred by the car's strange appearance, instead seemed excited by it, his mind completely off of how he would move into his own room later on. That piece of information apparently bothered Sasuke more than Naruto.

"I still can't believe you got this car. It wasn't supposed to make production past a concept car for all those car shows. What's your gas mileage on this? This has a hydrogen fueled rotary engine, doesn't it?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Naruto, I didn't offer to take you to school in my car for you to gape at it. I didn't even offer to take you to get you out of the rain," Itachi said coolly.

"What are you-"

"I'm not taking you to school at all," Itachi said briskly.

"What?" Sasuke demanded.

"What?!" Naruto all but screeched. "But – but today's my birthday! What was the point of me wearing black if I can't tell peo-"

"The fact that today is your birthday is the exact reason that you can't go to school today," Itachi said, his voice calm, and strangely cool. Naruto just stared at Itachi, and Sasuke did likewise. "I know that Mother and Father think nothing of it, and I know that neither of you remember it, and that's my fault. I shouldn't have tampered with your memories, but those things_ will_ come for you Naruto, and when they do, they will come for you too Sasuke. Our parents can't run any longer from their past crimes. They think the house is protected, but the defenses have been breeched before."

Sasuke and Naruto shared a look, and it reminded Sasuke of the look that he and Naruto had shared in the kitchen. Something had been going on that had made the room feel incredibly tense, and whatever it had been it was manifesting itself now in one very bizarre circumstance.

Itachi was talking crazy talk. Erasing memories. Their parents having past crimes. Yet Itachi's expression made Sasuke wonder if Itachi, at least, really believed what he was saying.

"Are you kidnapping us?" Naruto asked in disbelief. Itachi didn't answer. His eyes were focused on the road in front of him. Sasuke's eyes lifted to watch the expanse of pavement in front of them, and nearly yelled out in shock when he realized they were right upon a red light with no signs of slowing down.

Itachi's hand flew to the gearshift, throwing the car's speed higher as they sped through the red light, horns honking.

"What the fuck are you doing Itachi?!" Naruto yelled out, his hands gripping for something to hold onto.

"This is insane! What the hell is going on?!" Sasuke demanded, likewise trying to find something to grip onto.

"Slow down!"

"Itachi, stop the car!"

"Damnit!" Itachi cursed as sirens began to blare behind them.

Sasuke looked at his brother mortified. Itachi's face was set in its usual cool mask, but for the first time in a long time, his eyes betrayed his true emotional state.

Fear.

Itachi was _afraid_.

Fear gripped Sasuke's chest at the look in Itachi's eyes.

"What's goi-" Sasuke's words were stolen from his lips as the air left his lungs.

His mind barely registered the sight of the other car slamming into theirs before everything was a whirl of chaotic movement.

The sound of tires sliding on the wet pavement was followed immediately by a loud screeching noise. Sasuke's body slammed to the right; his seatbelt constricting on his stomach and chest as his right arm slammed into Naruto's. His head hit the back of the car and the world went black.

* * *

_When the ones who are truly brave are afraid it means only one thing: all hell is about to break loose. ~ Jelp_

* * *

**Next Chapter: Too Many Questions**

Sorry for the slight delay in updating. And I'm also sorry to say that I don't think I'll be able to get out an update next weekend as I'll be away. I'll see what I can do though! Things have been a bit hectic, but on the bright side (for me) I got a wedding dress last Saturday, and it already came into the store! Yay!

Hope you liked the fic! Let me know what you thought! ~ Jelp


	5. Chapter 5: Too Many Questions

**Afraid of the Dark**

**Chapter 5: Too Many Questions**

* * *

_"It's so dark that for awhile--just how long I don't know--I think I'm still unconscious." Stephen King._

_- Everything's Eventual (Autopsy Room Four (1st of 14 short stories))_

* * *

In the back of his mind Sasuke knew something horrible had happened. His body felt heavy, as though there were something weighing him down, yet he couldn't feel anything on top of him. His body seemed to refuse to move: his limbs dead weight.

He could practically feel his heart beat slowing, his chest movements hesitating until they were almost non-existent.

Sasuke was aware of nothing around him, yet was completely in tune with his body: the slow yet hard thumps of his heart beating in his chest, the thumps that seemed to come less and less frequently, less hard as though slowing down, as though stopping.

Try as he might, he couldn't focus on any other sounds or any other sensations outside of what he could feel in his body. He couldn't see anything but darkness. He couldn't feel what his body was touching. Nothing. Nothing but the ever slowing beats of his heart.

_Ba dum…ba dum … … ba dum … … …_

Finally, his heart stopped, his entire body stilled as a sense of utter tranquility settled through him. There was no movement, no sounds from his body.

The tranquility didn't last long as he began to feel a coldness enter his body. A sort of painful freezing that started in his chest and slowly spread throughout the rest of him.

_Am I dying?_

_Am I dead?_

But no he couldn't be dead as suddenly there were sounds and flashes around him. Even though he couldn't place what was going on, he was aware again as his focus was finally drawn away from his body to around him.

He felt something warm against him, as though his skin were on fire. Something warm was pressed on top of him. More warmth seeped into his body from the contact. The coldness that he had felt vanished instantly, and his heart began to beat hard inside him as though making up for the time it had stilled, thudding hard and loud against his chest.

Distantly, as though in a dream, he heard a voice speaking to him.

"Don't die! You can't die! Sasuke!"

Slowly his limbs seemed to become livelier as though the warmth was slowly filling him with life. He could feel his chest begin to rise even faster.

Another sense of tranquility began to spread through him, but this time it wasn't like the stillness from before, but rather a sort of exhaustion. The warmth felt pleasant, comfortable, and strangely familiar. Sasuke didn't fight it when he felt the pull of blackness beginning to take him. Instead, he let it pull him away from the world of the conscious...

* * *

Time seemed hard to place as Sasuke began to slowly wake up. Memories flashed back to him as images of Itachi practically kidnapping him and Naruto, memories of the car that had slammed into them -

Sasuke started back to consciousness in fear. His body was drenched with sweat, and he could feel his clothes sticking to his body. Worriedly he hoped it was just sweat and that none of the stickiness was blood.

"Naruto – Itachi!" Sasuke cried out. He looked around him in shock. His breath came in short pants as he continued looking around to see if Itachi and Naruto were okay from the car crash.

Instead he found himself lying in his bed, looking up at the ceiling the light of twilight seeping through his bedroom window with no one else in the room.

His body finally seemed to be able to move with the rush of adrenaline surging through him.

Sasuke sat up in bed and regretted the action as he hissed in pain. His chest hurt where the seatbelt had cut across his chest when the other car had pummeled into them.

He took a few deep breaths, looking around him, still confused. His attention turned to the empty space next to him: Naruto's empty side of the bed.

Where was Naruto? Was he okay? How did Sasuke get back home? Where was Itachi?

What had been Itachi's problem?

Sasuke grunted in pain as a sharp throb shot through his chest while a painful pounding began in his head.

"Shh, shh sweetie. Calm down. Lay back down," Mikoto said kindly to her son, her hands pressing gently on his shoulders as she encouraged him to lie back down on the bed.

Sasuke blinked at his mother in confusion. Just a second ago he was sure that no one else had been in the room with him.

"Where are Naruto and Itachi? Are they okay?"

"Naruto is in his new room, resting," Mikoto said gently wiping away the sweaty bang from Sasuke's forehead.

"What about Itachi?"

"He's at the hospital. He'll be fine," Mikoto said quietly.

"At the hospital?! Is he alright? How hurt is he? Is Dad there with-"

"Sasuke," Mikoto said so sharply that Sasuke's words died in his throat. He'd never heard his quiet, sweet mother ever sound like that. She took a deep breath and spoke in a gentler tone. "Itachi's _physically_ okay. He's at a special hospital for people with special mental conditions."

Special conditions? The only thing that Sasuke could think would cause Itachi to have a special mental condition was because of how he acted when they had gotten in the car.

"Is Itachi crazy?" Sasuke asked.

Pain contorted across Mikoto's face and she swiped a stray tear at the corner of her eye before it had the chance to fall.

"When Naruto woke up, he told me that Itachi had said some very bizarre things to the two of you before speeding away."

"Naruto's awake? Is he okay?"

"Yes, yes. Naruto's fine. He wanted to see you, but I made him promise to rest until you woke up. But first you and I need to speak before your father comes in to see you about what Itachi said to the two of you." Her voice fell down to a hushed whisper, and Sasuke felt apprehension due to his mother's expression.

For some reason Itachi's earlier words hung in the air, and he wondered what his brother had meant, wondered if perhaps his brother had known what he was talking about.

"I know that Mother and Father think nothing of it, and I know that neither of you remember it, and that's my fault. I shouldn't have tampered with your memories, but those things will come for you Naruto, and when they do, they will come for you too Sasuke. Our parents can't run any longer from their past crimes. They think the house is protected, but the defenses have been breeched before."

"Itachi said he tampered with our memories. Said he made us forget. He said that you and Dad are running away from something."

"That's what Naruto said Itachi had said as well. Is there anything else Itachi said?" Mikoto asked.

"I don't remember exactly what he said, but it seemed like he was worried about people coming after Naruto. He said that it had something to do with Naruto turning eighteen."

"He didn't tell you anything else? He didn't give you any other information? You didn't _ask_ him anything after he told you that?"

Sasuke vividly remembered asking Itachi what the hell was going on, but decided he wouldn't relay his exact choice of words to his mother.

"I questioned his sanity, but I didn't ask him anything else. Is he okay? Did he go crazy? Just saying a few crazy things doesn't make a person totally crazy. There is such a thing as temporary insanity, correct?" Sasuke asked, looking at his mother intently. She turned away from him.

Sasuke swallowed, remembering the look on Itachi's face: the look of pure fear. He hadn't looked insane; no, he'd looked terrified of something. Itachi didn't get afraid. He'd never, _ever_ seen his brother look like that before, and it unsettled Sasuke more than anything else that Itachi had actually said.

His mother was acting strangely, and Sasuke wondered if perhaps despite all that crazy talk, perhaps Itachi had actually been telling the truth.

Now that was definitely a scary thought.

"Mom, was what Itachi said true?" Sasuke asked. It was a silly question. Stupid. Surely it couldn't be true, right? His Mom would laugh, ruffle his hair, and reassure him that all was well.

But she didn't.

"I think I'm going to let Naruto know that you're awake," Mikoto said, smiling at him. "Why don't you just rest for a bit? I'll send Naruto to see you before your father gets home to talk with the two of you, okay?" She ruffled his hair and stood up, turning away from him.

"Mom?" Sasuke questioned, feeling that growing sense of fear well up within him again.

"I'll be right back sweetie!" she called from the doorway.

"Mom!" Sasuke shouted angrily. He went to swing the covers from off of his body to demand answers, but his limbs felt almost locked in place, and he found that his adrenaline rush had only been good enough to help him sit up. The rush of energy from the adrenaline had already drained from him, and he felt weak and heavy.

His mom hadn't answered him. His beloved, sweet, innocent-seeming mother hadn't reassured him at all. In fact, her reaction had made it seem like they were indeed running away from something in their past.

He felt like a little kid again, scared and alone like that time that the monster had come to the house.

Monster!

"A-ah!" Sasuke grunted in pain as a sharp throb shot through his head. He slumped backward on the bed, groaning slightly at the sharp pain. He must have hit his head pretty hard during the car accident.

The monster...he hadn't thought about that in _years_.

Another sharp pain shot through his head, making it difficult for him to think. He felt dizzy and almost sick to his stomach, and the vivid memory from his childhood of a gray-skinned monster with glowing eyes –

"Aah!" Sasuke grunted again. The sharp pangs to his head made it hard for him to think, so he took a few deep breaths, lying still. He hoped Naruto would be there soon. He wanted to see his mom again as well; he had so many questions to ask her. Yet at least if Naruto were there it would feel normal. Over the years Sasuke had found that it was hard to rest without Naruto by his side, as though Naruto calmed his mind. He needed his best friend, the person that was closer to him than his own brother, to be with him.

When they were younger, even when Sasuke and Naruto used to get into a lot of "fights" they were still best friends. After all, it wasn't unusual: two young boys growing up, fighting, playing around, and goofing off. It was to be expected.

Yet Sasuke had always felt extremely connected to Naruto. When Naruto was around, somehow he felt safer. For some reason, he remembered someone saying something to him along the lines of how he needed to stay close to Naruto in order to stay safe. His head throbbed again at the thought, and Sasuke tried to place the voice of who had told him that. Maybe it was just something he had dreamed?

"Sasuke!" Sasuke turned his head slightly as Naruto came in their room deep worry clearly evident on his face. No, not _their_ room. Just Sasuke's room now.

"Idiot. You're looking at me like I'm on my death bed," Sasuke said, grunting angrily. Naruto's expression changed instantaneously. A broad smile crossed his features, but it didn't reach his eyes. His eyes were still intently staring at Sasuke worriedly. The smile was too large, too forced. Naruto was trying his best to fake that everything was okay so as not to worry Sasuke.

"Nah. I knew you'd be fine. I've been toughening you up by kicking you out of bed in the morning. The force of the car was no match for how I trained your body," Naruto said, grinning widely as he stuck his thumb out and pointed it at himself proudly.

Sasuke snorted.

"Right," Sasuke drawled out. "You knew this was going to happen?" Sasuke asked, joking around as Naruto came forward and sat on the edge of his bed.

"Damn Sasuke, you look like shit," Naruto said, his attempt to lighten the mood vanishing as his concern overrode his ability to keep up a happy-mask of emotions.

"You _always_ look like shit. Does that mean you get banged up daily?" Sasuke asked with a smirk.

"Idiot," Naruto said grinning, feigning a playful punch to Sasuke's head. His fingers stopped short of connecting with Sasuke's forehead. His joking expression turned worried again. His fingers gently brushed away the bangs from Sasuke's forehead.

The touch felt like fire to his skin, and Sasuke gasped.

"You alright?" Naruto asked, pulling his hand away immediately, moving further from Sasuke on the bed as though he were afraid of hurting him.

"My head. Sharp pains," Sasuke admitted reluctantly. He didn't want to have Naruto to think he was a baby. It wasn't like Naruto to look so worried, and Sasuke didn't like that Naruto kept giving him those concerned looks. Right now, Sasuke felt very vulnerable. His entire body ached and felt like dead weight. Sharp pains kept shooting through his head, and Naruto's light touch had made his whole body feel like it had caught fire.

And to make matters worse, Naruto looked perfectly fine. It almost seemed insulting that he be cooped up in bed and Naruto looked okay.

Still, Sasuke would rather that he have gotten hurt than Naruto. He was glad Naruto was okay. Since he could remember, Sasuke had never handled Naruto getting hurt very well. He was also sure Naruto wouldn't have appreciated getting hurt on his birthday.

"Not your best birthday ever," Sasuke grunted.

"Nope. Didn't get to show off at school. But hey! I didn't have to go at all which is cool because no schoolwork and all that," Naruto said, grinning. Of course Naruto would focus on that "happy" aspect. "You still need to give me my birthday present!" Naruto said, grinning.

Sasuke snorted, and rolled his eyes. For his eighteenth birthday, Naruto had gotten him a couple of things. One of them had been an expensive book series that he liked, and the other –

Another sharp pain shot through Sasuke's head, and he realized he couldn't remember the other thing Naruto had gotten him.

"You hit your head really hard," Naruto murmured. "The fact that you're okay is the best birthday present."

Sasuke snorted. It hadn't been that bad of an accident. Neither said anything for a moment. Finally Naruto changed the subject.

"Auntie Mikoto is acting weird. Something's up. I think Itachi might've known something after all," Naruto said, looking at Sasuke as though wondering if Sasuke would agree with him or not.

"She said that she went to get you. I thought she'd come in right after you did," Sasuke explained.

"I didn't see her. I was in my room, and I came by to check up on you on my own."

At Naruto's words of "my room" there was a sharp tightening in Sasuke's chest that had nothing to do with the pain that he felt from the car crash. It was too strange to think that Naruto was going to be separated from him like that. They'd always been in the same room together. It was something that Sasuke knew he would never admit out loud to Naruto, but he felt safer when Naruto was around him.

In fact, having Naruto around him now had made the sense of worry that he felt about his parents and Itachi's crazy words calm down.

"So Mom doesn't know you're here – at least yet."

"You sound like you don't want Auntie to know I'm here," Naruto said, frowning. "Do you think Itachi was right, and that your parents are hiding something big?"

"Yes."

"I wish Itachi were here. They carted him off from the crash right away."

Sasuke frowned, looking at Naruto.

"I don't remember anything. What happened? Why are we here and not in the hospital?" Sasuke asked. Naruto shifted awkwardly on the bed and looked at his hands.

"You don't remember _anything_?" Naruto asked, looking at Sasuke intensely. Sasuke gave Naruto a disdainful look that told him that he wouldn't waste words saying it if he didn't mean it.

Sasuke waited for Naruto to roll his eyes or do something to show his exasperation with Sasuke's non-verbal explanation, and when none came, Sasuke realized how strange it was for Naruto to be looking at him so seriously.

"Sasuke, you've been unconscious for two days."

"_Two days_?" Sasuke gasped, looking at Naruto shocked.

"I thought...I thought you'd died at first," Naruto said, his voice cracking. "The other car hit your side, and you jolted around and hit your head and then went still. There was blood all over you. I kept calling your name, but you didn't answer me. Itachi started calling your name, and if I hadn't seen how scared he had seemed while driving us off to who knows where, I don't think I would have believed I'd ever see him so panicked. I unbuckled my seatbelt and felt for a heartbeat. It slowed down and then _nothing_. No heart beat. Your chest wasn't moving, and you weren't breathing. I thought you'd died," Naruto said. Sasuke could merely stare at Naruto numbly. Naruto was looking down at his hands.

The warmth that Sasuke had felt – it had been Naruto who had held him and gave him warmth.

"You called to me. I remember," Sasuke murmured, vaguely recalling how he'd heard someone say don't die.

"Yeah, I did. And it was so weird. It was like all of a sudden you came back to life. I could feel your heart beating against my chest, and you took a deep breath of air. You didn't open your eyes or speak, but damn...at least I could tell you were alive then."

There was silence for a moment before Sasuke prompted Naruto further.

"Then what happened?"

Naruto shrugged.

"I dunno. I sorta passed out after that. I know that your parents were there at one point, and then Uncle Fugaku left with Itachi," Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "I don't remember too much after that. I felt really drained after you started breathing again. I think the shock of thinking you were dead, and then the relief of you not being dead did a number on my nervous system. At least, that's what Uncle Fugaku said when I told him about it. I only woke up about nine hours ago. I was out of it for a day and a half myself."

Sasuke looked down at his own hands. It felt like something were floating in his mind, like a memory that he couldn't quite grasp. Something about what Naruto had said about how Sasuke had suddenly started breathing again gave him that feeling that he ought to know something, the same feeling when a word was just on the tip of his tongue, right there yet still out of reach.

It seemed to be so close. Right on the surface. If he could just remember what Naruto's words reminded him of –

Flashes of memory quickly passed through his mind, jolting things long buried –

-

He was nine. He and Naruto had been climbing on the jungle gym at their school. Naruto kept daring him to go higher. They climbed on top of the monkey bars, playing around. They stood on top of the monkey bars instead of dangling from them like they were supposed to. They were play fighting. Suddenly a teacher yelled at them to get off of the top. The yell startled Naruto so much that he lost his balance and fell.

Sasuke had felt his heart stop. Everything had felt like it had gone in slow motion. His body didn't want to act as Naruto landed hard, headfirst. Blood began to pool around Naruto's head.

Even though he was sure he couldn't have, Sasuke had felt like he had flown from the top of the monkey bars to Naruto's side, cradling Naruto's head in his hands. The spot where Naruto's blood was pouring from seemed to suddenly close, and Naruto's eyes fluttered open.

His parents had been called to school. They seemed more angry than worried about Naruto. His mother took him aside and asked what happened. He told her he flew to Naruto's side and made his head better. She said that wasn't possible, and to forget it. Sasuke said he couldn't. Then she'd touched his head, and it felt as though something was pulled from his mind –

-

Sasuke was fourteen. Itachi had taken him and Naruto to the mall to do some Christmas shopping for their mom. They stopped at the food court to get something to eat. The guy in front of them was about Naruto and Sasuke's age and was taking his good old time getting his food.

Sasuke got slightly annoyed as the person in front of them took even longer in getter his order by _triple_ checking his order before moving out of the way. Finally he moved off to the side with a bag of food in one hand and a coffee in the other. As the guy turned around so they were next in line to order, Sasuke barely registered that the person was someone that went to his school.

However, the other guy recognized him right away.

"You!" the guy yelled as he pointed at Sasuke. Sasuke merely raised his eyebrow at his classmate, not deigning him worth his time to even waste a scowl on him.

"Don't point at Sasuke like that you jerk!" Naruto yelled, stepping slightly in front of Sasuke. Sasuke did find Naruto worthy enough to scowl at, so he did. It was insulting that Naruto felt the need to stick up for him. He was perfectly capable of doing it himself if he so wished.

Just as Sasuke was about to ask what the other guy's problem was so that Naruto would back down, the other guy turned to him and gave him a piece of his mind.

"My girlfriend broke up with me because of you! She said you actually _spoke_ to her. She said you never speak to anyone, so you must secretly have a crush on her! She dumped me because of you!"

Sasuke had no recollection of who this guy was talking about. If he'd spoken to the girl, it was probably to say move out of my way or some other such thing. Sasuke wasn't very sociable. However, even if he had spoken to this guy's ex-girlfriend, if she broke up with him just because Sasuke spoke to her meant that the girl was either foolishly hopeful for his attention, or she had no better excuse to dump the imbecile standing in front of him.

"Whoever she was, I've no interest in her, especially if she went out with a loser like you."

It took Sasuke by complete surprise when the guy threw his coffee into Sasuke's face. Intense pain shot through him as the scalding coffee splattered all over his face and even in his eyes.

Sasuke cried out in shocked pain, his hands flying to his eyes to cover them.

The hot liquid felt like it was scorching his eyes out. He'd never thought much about how damaging hot drinks could be, but the painful agony he felt was like nothing he'd ever experienced before.

The pain crippled his senses, and he fell heavily to the floor in agony. He screamed and grunted, panic settling over him as he tried to open his eyes and saw nothing but blackness in his agony.

Complete blackness.

His panic at his sudden blindness overrode the pain, and the scream died on his lips as shock began to settle over him.

Suddenly he could feel someone coming closer to him, and he flinched away, fearful of what he couldn't see.

"Sasuke?! Are you okay?!" Naruto demanded, and if Sasuke hadn't been so panicked, he might have relaxed to know that Naruto was still by his side.

Coolness seemed to settle over his eyes. A few moments later he realized that Naruto had pressed his hands to Sasuke's eyes, and they seemed to cool away the pain. The pressure of Naruto's hands left his eyes. The burning sensation left instantly as though Naruto's hands had absorbed the pain. Sasuke blinked again, and it was like the world had gone from black to perfect light without missing a beat.

He blinked once more and Itachi stood before him, his eyes curious, but strangely not worried.

"Are you okay?" Naruto asked breathlessly.

Sasuke nodded once, feeling foolish for panicking, though utterly relieved that he could see.

After double checking that Sasuke was okay, Naruto turned from his side and launched himself at the guy that had hurt him. Following Naruto's lead, Sasuke was about ready to pounce on the guy as well, but Itachi held his shoulder and looked right into his eyes.

"Weren't your eyes hit with the coffee?" Itachi asked, his voice calm and collected, as though he was completely oblivious to how Naruto was beating the living daylights out of the other guy, nor how a large crowd was gathering around watching the fight. Itachi also seemed quite oblivious to the shouts egging Naruto on as well as other shouts yelling at him to stop.

"Yes, but Naruto put his hands on my eyes and the pain stopped." It sounded so ridiculous for him to say, but for some reason, with Itachi looking at him like that, he felt compelled to tell the truth.

"I see," Itachi said, as he lightly touched Sasuke's forehead and something seemed to slide from his mind –

-

It was his eighteenth birthday. He and Naruto had gone to bed as usual. Naruto was hyper from all the birthday cake he'd eaten, especially since Sasuke didn't like sweets and Naruto always had Sasuke's piece.

"Why do you get a cake for your birthday if you're not going to eat it?" Naruto asked as he turned to look at Sasuke. Sasuke turned to look at Naruto, finding Naruto's appearance strange due to the new lighting in their room.

It was the first time since Sasuke could remember that they had a different light other than their "nightlight." Naruto had gotten him a black light for his birthday, insisting it would be "cooler" for people their age to have a black light rather than a "nightlight." The purple-ish light made the atmosphere in the room seem so much different than normal.

Sasuke was just about to answer Naruto's question by explaining that he didn't have the heart to deny his mother baking for him on his birthday when he found himself caught up just staring at Naruto. The small black light that they had fixed above their bed made the white sheets contrast brightly against Naruto's skin. The sheets were pulled up close to Naruto's neck, but his bare arm was propped on top of the sheets.

Naruto's skin looked darker than normal due to the contrast, and Sasuke had the strangest urge to brush his fingers along Naruto's skin to see if it felt as different as it looked.

"What are you doing?" Naruto murmured, the earlier hyperness in his voice sounding strangely raspy.

"Hmm?" Sasuke asked, finding it almost hard to speak.

"Why are you running your fingers along my skin?" Naruto asked looking at Sasuke strangely.

Strange. Sasuke hadn't even realized he was doing that until Naruto had said something. Why was he doing this? He wasn't quite sure, but he did realize that Naruto felt strangely warm.

"You're warm," Sasuke murmured. His fingers continued to brush Naruto's arm. Sasuke locked eyes with Naruto, noticing the way that Naruto's eyes looked at him in confusion.

His hand continued to stroke Naruto's arm, this time up from his forearm, past his elbow, moving across his bicep. Sasuke trailed his fingers lightly along Naruto's collarbone to where the sheet was pressed against his neck. He pulled his eyes away from Naruto's gaze to watch his hand stroke gently against Naruto's pulse beating gently at the bottom of his neck.

Before he realized what he was doing, Sasuke moved the sheet slowly away from Naruto's neck, watching as the white sheet slowly revealed more of Naruto's skin. He stopped pulling the sheet down when it reached the top of Naruto's sleep shorts. They were dark black, and Sasuke just stared at them, staring at the drawstring that was tied in a loose knot at the front.

Slowly he pulled the sleep shorts down to see what the rest of Naruto's skin looked like beneath the black light. His hand traveled lower, and he heard Naruto make a strange sort of pleasured gasp –

Pounding. There was pounding. Was it at the door? Where was it coming from –

Yes, there was pounding at the door, but there was pounding from the headboard too –

The door burst open, and Itachi came in, looking at the two of them in shock. He yelled something at them before coming closer and smashing the black light to pieces.

The pieces of glass from the broken black light left cuts along his naked skin, but as soon as Naruto touched him again, they vanished.

Sasuke didn't have time to register this fact as Itachi grabbed him and Naruto, flinging them apart. Naruto made a noise of protest, and he reached for Sasuke. Sasuke reached for Naruto as well, but felt his body freeze mid-motion. He felt a coolness hit him as the air chilled his naked, sweaty body, and suddenly he felt like a great deal was pulled from his mind, and like something heavy was placed over his heart –

-

Sasuke was eleven. He kept feeling like someone was watching him. It kept feeling like there were eyes on him. It wasn't the first time he'd has this feeling, but this time it felt like a truly _bad _feeling.

When he and Naruto went to bed that night, he couldn't help shake the feeling. While he lay awake in bed, he realized that Naruto hadn't gone to sleep either.

"I feel like someone's watching us," Sasuke whispered.

"I – I thought that too," Naruto said, his voice sounding scared. "What do we do?"

"Take the flashlight. Let's go to Itachi's room. It's closest," Sasuke said. Naruto nodded, grabbing the flashlight before they dashed to Itachi's room.

"What're you doing?" Itachi asked, frowning as the two of them entered his room. He sat at his computer desk, typing up something on his computer. The only light in the room came from the glow off of Itachi's computer screen, and from the faint glow of the flashlight in Naruto's hand.

"There are eyes watching us," Naruto said. Sasuke glared at Naruto. He shouldn't say something like that to Itachi. Itachi would think they were being stupid.

But instead of brushing them off as acting up, Itachi frowned at them. He turned toward his window, and his eyes widened slightly when he looked out it. Sasuke tilted his head to the side to see what had made Itachi look like that.

"Stay in here with me tonight," Itachi said, doing something with his computer before turning it off. He flipped on a light before the computer finished booting down. "Get into bed you two," Itachi said, nodding to the bed. Like Sasuke and Naruto, he too had a large bed, but it would be a little squished with the three of them in there.

For a moment, Sasuke thought that Itachi was going to get into bed with them at the same time, but instead he headed for the door, grabbing the flashlight from Naruto.

"Hey! Where are you –" But Naruto's words died on his lips as he suddenly slumped back asleep, and Sasuke felt himself suddenly very, very tired –

-

Sasuke was six. He'd just turned six in fact. It was the first time that he and Naruto had ever met. Naruto _hadn't_ been sent to their home because his mom was in a coma! Sasuke remembered now. Naruto had been running away from the monsters who had kidnapped his mom and his house. The monsters had also clawed up Naruto's back. Sasuke and he had been taken to the hospital because Naruto had almost died.

Dr. Ibiki had told them to stay close. He'd also told Sasuke that he'd saved Naruto's life. He'd also told them something about monsters –

-

"Aah!" Sasuke grunted as wave of intense pain jolted through his head.

"Sasuke!" Naruto cried in concern, darting forward. He touched Sasuke's head. The pain died immediately, but a strange burning sensation seemed to spark from where Naruto had touched him. Sasuke jerked back, and Naruto did the same.

Sasuke blinked his eyes, looking at Naruto confused. Those memories seemed so far away, yet he was sure that they had happened.

His mind went through all the memories, but he quickly sidestepped the one on the night of his eighteenth birthday. It seemed far different than all the rest, and that one was more broken than the others.

What it implied had happened between the two of them left a large knot in the pit of Sasuke's stomach, and it was something he _couldn't_ think about right now. Instead he focused on the memories of them being hurt and then a strange healing occurring, just like when Naruto had been hurt by the monsters.

Another memory of Dr. Ibiki saying that Sasuke had saved Naruto's life flittered through his mind, and he had a strong feeling that everything started there.

Monsters. Something to do with monsters. It was utterly stupid, yet he knew all of them were connected somehow.

"Naruto, I think we need to get away from here. I think Mom and Dad are hiding things from us, and I think something else is happening between us."

"What are you talking about?"

"I think Itachi was right. I think they're hiding something from us, and I think they're messing with our memories." Itachi had even said that he had, but it had at least seemed like Itachi was going to tell them the truth.

"Sasuke sweetheart, why would you say such a thing?"

Sasuke turned toward the doorway, his face set as he stared at his mom. Her face didn't seem angry, but rather resigned, almost weary.

"What are you hiding from us?" Sasuke asked bluntly.

"Sasuke," Naruto said sharply, looking back and forth between mother and son.

"That's not the right question you need to ask. I can't tell you until you ask the right question. That's how the rule works," Mikoto said, calmly placing her hands in front of her.

"Ask the right question? Rules? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Figure out the right question, and then I'll tell you the rest. And watch your language."

Sasuke stared at his mother, wondering what stupid sort of nonsense was going on. The only thing that he could think of was that there were monsters that had come after Naruto. It seemed that some of his memories had been erased, but why? Was that the right question?

"Why are you erasing our memories?" Sasuke demanded.

"Uh...?" Naruto said, looking at Sasuke. Sasuke's mother shook her head.

"Not the right question."

"Why are the monsters after us?" She just shook her head again.

Sasuke was about to ask, 'why can we heal?' when a strange thought occurred to him. If there really were monsters in addition to humans, maybe he and Naruto could heal because they weren't human either? Were _they_ monsters? He didn't want to word it like that, so instead he asked,

"What are we?" Sasuke whispered. Mikoto looked at Sasuke, and her eyes flittered slightly, and she smiled at him.

"I thought for sure you would have asked me that important question ages ago. You were four when Itachi figured it out. He wondered about how the picture broke, and he heard you talking to me about monsters. You were close to figuring it out several times. I think Itachi was trying to protect you from asking it because he didn't like the answer to the question so much."

"What are we?" Naruto repeated Sasuke's question, but directing it at Sasuke, not Mikoto, clearly wondering why Sasuke had asked that.

"That's it, isn't it? What are we? That's the question, isn't it?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes, yes it is."

"And?" Sasuke asked, feeling impatient that he wasn't being answered. Mikoto smiled gently.

"Why, you're a fairy of course."

* * *

_"Sometimes things look better in the dark when you don't really know what it is you're looking at." ~ Jelp_

* * *

**Next Chapter: Fairy Tales**

Sorry for the hiatus. Just didn't feel like writing, and I think part of it was due to a health issue that made me blah. For those of you who read Highs and Lows you know I'm diabetic, and I just found out that I have something called Hashimoto's disease. It's a thyroid problem that was partially caused due to my diabetes. I'm on meds now, and I'm feeling better. Ironically enough, I didn't know I was feeling bad till I started feeling better!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Let me know what you thought! ~ Jelp


	6. Chapter 6: Fairy Tales

There is a lot of content in this chapter, and part of it will be told in a "fairy tale" style. Make sure not to skim, or else you _will_ get confused.

**Afraid of the Dark**

**Chapter 6: Fairy Tales**

* * *

_"The thing under my bed waiting to grab my ankle isn't real. I know that, and I also know that if I'm careful to keep my foot under the covers, it will never be able to grab my ankle." – Stephen King_

* * *

"Why, you're a fairy of course."

"You can't be serious," Sasuke stated bluntly, looking at his mother stunned.

"I am quite serious. You're a fairy."

Silence filled the room for a full ten seconds before Naruto turned to look at Mikoto and asked very seriously, "What the hell are you two talking about?"

"Apparently, we're fairies," Sasuke said, looking at Naruto incredulously.

"Yes and no. _You're_ a fairy dear. Naruto is a bit...special," Mikoto explained.

"What the fuck is going on?!" Naruto demanded.

"Language, dear," Mikoto said sweetly. Sasuke all but rolled his eyes. His mother was berating Naruto on his foul mouth when she had all these secrets that she'd been keeping from them?

"What's going on? What are you two talking about?" Naruto demanded. "Does this have something to do with what happened with Itachi going nuts?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, what is going on?" Sasuke asked, wishing he had more strength to properly demand answers from his mother. However his head throbbed and his body still felt like dead weight. While there was a way he thought he might get some more of his strength back, he didn't want to chance it.

Part of him was piecing things together. It seemed that he and Naruto could heal each other to a degree. It also seemed that his mother and Itachi were able to erase their memories. Certain he still hadn't regained all of his memories, Sasuke wondered what were to happen if he were to touch Naruto. Would he be able to siphon off some of Naruto's strength to help "heal" himself? But he wasn't willing to risk it since didn't know what the limitations of this newly discovered ability might be. Sasuke was also slightly unwilling to touch Naruto due to the recent and vivid imagery of another way he had touched him.

"Naruto, why don't you sit down next to Sasuke," Mikoto said sweetly, acting her normal motherly self. "And why don't I explain a few things to you two boys."

"I'm doped up on something, aren't I? _I_ was the one who hit my head, and now I'm in the hospital doped up on lots of pain medication that's making me have these trippy dreams, right?" Naruto asked as he sat next to Sasuke on his usual side of the bed.

Just moments before Sasuke had felt upset that Naruto had been placed in his own room. After that strange memory from his birthday, part of him wanted Naruto far away from him. He tried not to let it show when Naruto sat close to him.

"Ah, no. Just let me explain dear," Mikoto said. Naruto looked at Mikoto apprehensively, and Sasuke didn't blame him. His mother was acting very normal while trying to explain something very abnormal.

Taking a deep breath, Mikoto turned and looked at Sasuke. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions. Before you ask them, let me explain some things, and then I can take your questions from there, okay?"

It was like Mikoto was a schoolteacher about to explain a complex calculus problem. The attitude was simple: wait until the end of the explanation and ask questions then because I might just answer your question during my explanation.

While Sasuke sincerely doubted that his mother would answer every question whirling in his mind, he figured he might get some of his answers faster if he just shut-up and listened. He nodded his head once to let his mother know he would try not to interrupt.

"Keep quiet till she's done," Sasuke muttered to Naruto to hopefully prevent Naruto from interrupting. Naruto rolled his eyes. It wasn't the first time Sasuke had felt the need to remind Naruto to be quiet when someone else was speaking. Even so, Sasuke had a feeling Naruto would interrupt anyway.

"First, I must say Sasuke that I am very sorry that I was unable to tell you that you were a fairy before. If it makes you feel any better, I would have most likely told you soon anyway."

Naruto gave a snort, and Sasuke could tell that Naruto didn't believe a word of what was going on. Quite frankly he didn't blame Naruto, but then again, Naruto probably hadn't remembered the things that Sasuke had. While being a fairy wasn't his first choice of explaining the strange things going on around him, it was a start.

"You actually believe her? How can you possibly think you're a fairy?" Naruto asked incredulous.

"Shut-up, and maybe she'll explain," Sasuke said. The truth was that the idea that he was a fairy was so ludicrous that there was no way someone could have made that up; it had to be the truth. If she had lied she would have made up a more convincing lie.

"You see, not everyone who has fairy parentage turns out to have fairy abilities. It can also be somewhat frustrating because a parent may have completely _different_ abilities than the child. Sometimes a child may not have any abilities at all. Because of this fact, a parent can only tell her child that he is a fairy if he first notices differences in what he can do, and asks if he is either a fairy, or realizes that he is not quite human. It's a binding magical law."

She paused, and Sasuke was grateful for the time to collect his thoughts. His mother was basically telling him that she was a fairy, and that there was some sort of rule that made it so that he had to ask if he were different before she would tell him anything.

"Why erase our memories if we could have figured it out sooner? There were clearly signs," Sasuke accused.

"Your memories weren't erased. They were just pushed aside. The brain is a wonderfully powerful thing. Those memories are still in there. And, if I'm not mistaken, Itachi was slowly working his magic, forgive the pun, in order to try and unlock the memories that he hid from you: from the both of you. It will just take a little longer for Naruto's memories to return to him as he has just recently turned eighteen. Like I said, Naruto is a bit special, so he won't remember as fast. If you recall, Itachi had wanted to hide this from you just as I did, but complications arose because Naruto turned eighteen."

"Wait just a minute. You're telling me that Itachi and Sasuke are fairies and that Itachi has known about this for _years_? And that now, all of a sudden, because I've turned eighteen, something big is going on?" Naruto asked in disbelief.

"Sweetie, I know this is a lot to take in, but it's true."

"The only way Sasuke and Itachi are fairies is if the universe is trying to balance things out by counter-acting all the happy-cutesy-girly-stuff with these two angsty-emo men. There's no way that they're _fairies_," Naruto said, crossing his arms firmly.

"Angsty? Emo? I'm not emo!"

"Are you sure about that?"

"Boys! Enough. Naruto, the fairies you see on cartoons are not like real fairies," Mikoto explained to Naruto as though that were obvious.

"But-"

"Just keep your mouth shut and let her explain," Sasuke hissed a little more vehemently than usual. He was a bit annoyed by the emo comment.

"Let me start from the beginning with the tale of Daji," Mikoto said. Naruto rolled his eyes. Sasuke tried to ignore him, his whole attention focused on his mother.

"A long time ago-" Mikoto began, pausing only when Sasuke elbowed Naruto for muttering, "Don't you mean once upon a time?" under his breath. Mikoto began again. "A long time ago, almost three thousand years if you want to get a closer estimation, during the end of the Shang Dynasty in China..."

The last Emperor of the Shang Dynasty, Zhou Xin, ruled for nearly forty years as a decent ruler, as told by the novel _Fengshin Yanyi_. He was a decent ruler, but was known to be overly zealous about women. This flaw became his downfall. One day he went into the Temple of the goddess, Nuwa. In the Temple he saw a statue of the goddess and felt lustful toward her idol. He said crude and lewd things in Nuwa's Temple. As the goddess sat, watching the occupant of her Temple from her palace in heaven, the Emperor's lustful and lewd words angered her so much that she vowed that he would be the last of the Shang Dynasty rulers.

From Nuwa's palace in heaven, she sent down one of her magical servants to deal with Emperor Zhou Xin. It was this servant, a thousand-year-old hulijing, or fox spirit, who caused Zhou Xin's downfall.

At the same time that the thousand-year-old fox spirit attempted to find a way into Emperor Zhou Xin's palace and good graces, a concubine by the name of Daji was on her way to the palace to be presented as a gift to the Emperor.

The clever fox spirit quickly formed a cunning plan and killed the beautiful and kind Daji, taking on the concubine's form and infiltrated the palace in her stead.

The Emperor became enamored with Daji, the concubine-possessed fox demon. He quickly fell under her influence. Of course, he had no idea that Daji was really possessed by a cunning fox spirit, intent on exacting revenge for the goddess Nuwa.

Following Nuwa's orders, Daji made sure that Zhou Xin would become the last of the Shang dynasty by mercilessly corrupting him. She encouraged him to buy expensive things. In order to pay for these exotic tastes, he had to raise heavy taxes on the people, making them angry at the unfair taxation.

Daji was pleased with her work. The people began to quickly despise the Emperor and his unfair taxes.

Daji relished in the misery of the mortals and decided to cause as much misery as possible. She quickly got rid of Zhou Xin's other wives, and instead of being the head concubine, became his head wife. Emperor Zhou Xin did his best to give his beloved anything and everything she wished for, including entertainment by means of watching others die by being tortured to death.

In order to amuse his wife, the Emperor invented a torture device called the paolao, a bronze cylinder-podium used to torture victims by burning them as punishment. Victims would stand on oil-slicked cylinders that were slowly heated, forcing the victims to shift their weight around on the slippery, burning cylinders. Hot coals were laid below the cylinders, and in the end, the victims would eventually lose their balance, slip into the coal, and slowly burn to death.

Daji truly relished in the misery of others. In fact, watching their deaths made her aroused. Daji would frequently get so aroused that she would approach the Emperor while they watched the victim being tormented and engage in sexual acts. This fueled great disgust amongst the people of Emperor Zhou Xin's court, and some court officials left the palace because of their public disgusting displays of debauchery.

One such court official was the wise Jiang Ziya. Emperor Zhou Xin and Daji would later come to regret angering him.

Some time later, after the corruption of Emperor Zhou Xin had begun, the Emperor invited the neighboring and lesser King Wen of the Zhou tribe to stay in the palace, along with his son, Prince Bo. Prince Bo was a handsome young man, and the fox spirit fell in love with him – or at least in love with his appearance. As he was from the nomadic Zhou tribe, he was very athletic, and his body was fine toned and well built.

Daji began making advances on Prince Bo, forgetting her duty to corrupt the Emperor. Even so, Prince Bo ignored all of Daji's advances and was disgusted with her attempts to seduce him when she was already spoken for. Finally, Daji, angered with Prince Bo's rejection, told her husband that Prince Bo had attempted to rape her. She pleaded with her husband to dispose of him, and Emperor Zhou Xin had the prince killed. Prince Bo was forced upon the paolao, where he too inevitably fell off and slowly burned in the hot coals below.

His burned body was mutilated, mashed, and then turned into soup that was then fed to his father, the unsuspecting King Wen.

When his son went missing, King Wen suspected foul deeds at work, but was unable to figure out what had happened to his beloved son.

Not too long there after, King Wen met the former court official, Jiang Ziya, fishing nearby. Now, Jiang Ziya was no ordinary man. In fact, he was a magical sage, and a man who had great knowledge of the Emperor since he had once served in his court. The sage Jiang Ziya quickly befriended King Wen, and using his sage magic, he had visions of how Prince Bo had died. He then used his knowledge and sage magic to tell King Wen how he could defeat Zhou Xin. King Wen sought to seek his revenge after the sage told him how the Emperor had killed his son, and how King Wen had actually _eaten_ his son's deceased body.

Following sage Jiang Ziya's instructions, King Wen and his army attacked Emperor Zhou Xin's army at the famed battle of Muye. Finding himself unable to defeat King Wen's men, Emperor Zhou Xin committed suicide by burning himself to death inside of his own palace.

Later on, King Wen had the evil-fox spirit exorcised by Jiang Ziya himself, and Daji too fell to her death. The goddess Nuwa had no more use for her servant; she had served her purpose, and Nuwa felt her servant had gotten herself into the mess by trying to seduce Prince Bo in the first place.

"And that is one of the many tales of Daji according to the novel _Fengshin Yanyi_. Though I must say that there are various versions of how she corrupted Emperor Zhou Xin."

Sasuke looked at his mother, waiting for more.

"Uh, nice whacked out fairy tale…?" Naruto said slowly, not sure how he was supposed to take the story.

"What does this story have to do with the fact that I am a fairy?" Sasuke demanded.

"Actually, this story has more to do with how Naruto is a descendant of Daji and Prince Bo."

"Eh?! What?!" Naruto screeched.

"What?" Sasuke asked a little more calmly.

"Yes, well, you see, as I said, that's the story according to the novel _Fengshin Yanyi_. It wasn't written until the Ming Dynasty, many years later! Naturally there are some adjustments to the actual tale. For instance, while Prince Bo was indeed killed via torture of the paolao, he didn't completely reject Daji's advances. Daji was very cunning after all. What made her angry with him was his rejection of her and of their child.

"Prince Bo impregnated Daji. After realizing that she was pregnant with Prince Bo's child she went to him and told him of her news. He didn't wish to claim the child of his own in fear of angering Emperor Zhou Xin. Even though Prince Bo let her warm his bed, he had thought he would be killed if the Emperor found out."

"So she got pissed that he dissed her for getting pregnant and had him killed by the Emperor anyway?" Naruto asked.

"Yes. She then had the child in secret. Daji gave the baby boy to the care of one of her personal handmaids, claiming the boy belonged to the handmaid. Sadly, when the fox spirit was forcibly taken from Daji's body, the fox spirit was unable to survive the removal as she had already killed the human portion, the original Daji. Both Daji and the fox spirit were completely killed. This is where the big problem starts when the half-spirit fox child was carted off to a foreign land by the handmaid.

"In the new land, Daji's handmaid named Daji's son Xiao Gang. In Chinese, Gang means little port. The handmaid gave him this name to symbolize that he would be the harbor for revenge against Daji's death. Daji's handmaid was utterly anguished at the death of her beloved Daji. She fed the child lies, hoping that he would one day seek out revenge against the people who had killed his mother. Despite her words, Xiao Gang grew to be a very kind man. Initially he never sought revenge against his mother's killers. But later on in his life, the handmaid's lies would haunt him as he never truly forgot about the people that caused his mother's death: King Wen and the sage Jiang Ziya."

"Wait a minute – didn't Daji have the kid's father killed? And wasn't Daji's son also King Wen's grandson too?" Naruto asked, scratching the back of his head.

"Daji's son, Xiao Gang, didn't know that at the time. Remember, the handmaid was feeding him lies in order so that he would avenge his mother's death. I'll get to that later in the story.

"Eventually the handmaid died, but Daji's son did not. He had inherited his mother's ability to live a long life. As the years passed, watching those he came to care about die around him, Xiao Gang became bitter and angry. Years of loneliness, and the blurred lies the handmaid had told him of his mother's murder began to fester in his mind. While he had always felt bitter due to her murder, he was a kind soul at heart. But years of loneliness slowly drove him mad. Without even knowing what had become of his mother's murderers, he began to plot out wild plans of revenge.

"Since it had happened in a foreign land, Xiao Gang never expected to carry out his wild plans of revenge. He even became angry with himself that he had never carried out revenge when he had had the chance. Also, due to his ability to live for thousands of years, Xiao Gang was sure he had already out lived all those involved with her murder. Nonetheless, he still fantasized about ways he would have plotted his revenge, and the what if scenarios began to consume him.

"Xiao Gang was two-thousand-years-old before he found out that Jiang Ziya, the sage who had exorcised the fox spirit was still alive. Daji's son was finally able to act out one of his many ideas of revenge. He went to the land of his birth, and found Jiang Ziya living in a village where King Wen's descendants also lived. In fact, Jiang Ziya acted as a sort of protector of the people. Jiang Ziya lived there peacefully with his wife and his best friend.

"To exact his revenge, Xiao Gang first burned the village where the descendants of King Wen lived in order to flush out Jiang Ziya. He did not kill the villagers, but he still made sure to get rid of all of their possessions. Xiao Gang also believed that burning the village would bring Jiang Ziya out into the open. As Xiao Gang predicted, Jiang Ziya came out to battle. Xiao Gang was surprised at how truly strong Jiang Ziya was. Unable to defeat Jiang Ziya in a fair battle, Xiao Gang, driven mad by rage and his own inability to seek revenge against one of the men who had helped kills his mother, killed Jiang Ziya's best friend, Dajiwan. Feeling foolish and angry at himself for taking an innocent life, Xiao Gang turned himself over to Jiang Ziya's hands.

"What Xiao Gang did not realize at the time was the Jiang Ziya's was a type of fairy. As mentioned before, Jiang Ziya was a sage.

"There are several types of fairies. Jiang Ziya, is known as a sage type, a sennin in Japanese. A sennin is an immortal spirit. Sennin tend to live alone, but they live for many years, but many often seek the comfort of women eventually.

"As he was a fairy, his wife was also a fairy. But unlike Jiang Ziya, his wife was a xiangu, an immortal sorceress and fairy queen. She too had been friends with the man that Xiao Gang killed. She became heart broken at the death of her friend.

"The xiangu's name was Gangshou. Having lived for many years, and having seen many sorrows, she knew the true tale of Daji and of her son. Though saddened by her friend's death, instead of seeking revenge, she sought to set Xiao Gang straight. Both Gangshou and Jiang Ziya could see that Xiao Gang was a good man at heart, and told Xiao Gang the tale of his mother's life. Xiao Gang was moved by how neither Jiang Ziya nor his wife Gangshou decided to attempt to take revenge. Of course he was also shocked to learn that he was a descendant of Prince Bo and King Wen.

"In repentance for what he had done, Xiao Gang entered into the service of Gangshou and Jiang Ziya, promising himself to forever be an aid to all types of fairies, and that he would do everything in his power so that no terrible misunderstanding would ever happen again.

"With the sennin and the xiangu's tutelage, Xiao Gang became the most extraordinary ally, not just to the two of them, but to all fairies who came to them for help. Gangshou and Jiang Ziya adopted Xiao Gang like their own son, almost replacing the friend that they had lost.

"Years passed, and Jiang Ziya, Gangshou, and Xiao Gang lived in harmony, working together to keep peace amongst the lands, and amongst the other fairies, just as Xiao Gang had promised he would. Over time, the three of them became a sort of ruling tribunal, helping out other fairies that needed help. Eventually, many of the people that they helped, befriended them. The three of them and all of their followers grew powerful, and they were seen to many as a pillar of strength and stability. They were the unofficial royalty of the fairy.

"Sadly, several smaller fairy tribes –"

"Fairy tribes?" Naruto asked.

"Don't interrupt. It's rude," Sasuke hissed. Of course he wouldn't admit to Naruto that the real reason he was irritated was because he was actually really getting into the story.

"Yes, fairy tribes. There are different types, remember? Fire fairies have always been known for their quick temperament, and several fire fairies began to see the three as a threat. Who had made them the policing force amongst fairies? The fire fairies banded together, hoping to lead an uprising and overthrow the three and their followers. In order to gain greater strength than the three and their followers, they enlisted the help of torooru's, wicked fairies who are afraid of light and feed off of the fear of others. I'm sure you know the torooru's by another name: trolls. Even after the fire fairies enlisted the help of the trolls they were still not strong enough to defeat the three and their followers.

"Years passed, and the fire fairies began to attack fairies that supported the three. The three always managed to quell the uprising, but it was clear that the fire fairies were resilient in the pursuit to bring about their downfall. Finally, with a bit of luck, one of the fire fairy tribes managed to capture a hulijing, an immortal fox spirit with nine-tails. He was even older and wiser than Daji had been at the height of her power.

"The tribe killed the hulijing's only child, and told him that Xiao Gao had been the killer.

"Now this fairy tribe was very intelligent, but they lacked key information that resulted in their plan backfiring on them. The hulijing, being an old and intelligent fox, even if he was quick to anger, was able to recognize Xiao Gang as a kindred spirit. The hulijing was shocked when he realized that Xiao Gang was also partially a fox spirit. Due to this, the hulijing knew Xiao Gang would not have willingly killed another fox spirit.

"Still, the hulijing was heart broken at the loss of his beloved child. He was over five thousand years old, and his mate had died nearly one hundred years before. After reaching five thousand, the old fox was no longer able to produce any fox children of his own, even if he were to take a human mate. Since the hulijing was old and bitterly lonely due to the loss of his son, he made a deal with Xiao Gang. The hulijing promised that he would not hurt Xiao Gang or any of his followers if Xiao Gang promised to give the hulijing his first-born child.

"Now in all his years, Xiao Gang had never found anyone that he had wanted to take as his mate, so he readily agreed with the hulijing's request as he believed he would never have children. Besides, what other choice did he have if he wanted to protect those he had come to care for?

"Even with their back-fired plan, the fire fairies did not give up. While some felt it was wrong that they had tricked the hulijing and killed his son, many continued to want to see the downfall of the powerful three. The fire fairies continued to attack the three and their followers.

"Five years passed from when the hulijing had made Xiao Gang promise to give up his first-born when Xiao Gang when a great assault was made on his home. After defending his home against the fire fairies, Xiao Gang met a muse-fire fairy who surrendered herself to Xiao Gang.

"She was a beautiful fairy, the daughter of a fire and muse fairy. While she looked like a true fire fairy with her fiery red hair and could sometimes sound like one with her sharp words, her temperament was that of a muse fairy. She was caring, strong, and quite partial to attractive human males as most muse fairies are.

"While Xiao Gang was indeed part fox spirit, his other part was human. The muse-fire fairy had fallen in love with him before ever meeting him in person. She admired his courage, his brave deeds, and everything that he stood for.

"Being young and headstrong, she turned her back on her fire fairy tribe after their failed assault on Xiao Gang's home, and gave herself over to him. She wanted to prove her love to a man she had never met, but only heard stories about. Once she met him, she worked doubly hard to impress him. She quickly became a legendary fighter, and was soon fighting at the side of the man she had grown to admire and love. At first Xiao Gang was apprehensive of her. She was a fire fairy after all, yet she claimed to love him. Did she love him, or just lust after him? Or even worse, was this all a trick?

"After saving his life in a fierce battle, it quickly became clear to him that she was no ordinary fire fairy, and that she had a great capacity to love. Xiao Gang found himself falling in love with her. But because of the promise he made to the hulijing, he feared that falling in love with her would result in a child, a child that they would have to give up.

"Gangshou, feeling grateful that her adopted son had finally found someone to love went to the muse-fire fairy in secret, and told her what Xiao Gang had promised the hulijing. More determined than ever to win over Xiao Gang's love, the muse-fire fairy finally convinced Xiao Gang to marry her in secret, hoping that no one would ever find out about their secret love affair. They fled to the foreign land where Xiao Gang had grown up, hoping that their love would remain secret there.

"Naturally, this was not to be. Less than a year after their marriage, the muse-fire fairy got pregnant, and the hulijing found out about this. Enraged that Xiao Gang had hid the child, he attacked on the night of the child's birth, intent on forcibly taking the child. Naturally Xiao Gang attacked back, defending his wife and his newly born son.

"That night, a fierce battle between the two raged on for hours. Magic ripped the air, and the landscape of the forest where they fought was demolished. Yet at the end of the battle, there was no sign of either the hulijing or Xiao Gang.

"The fire fairies' resistance disbanded on the same night of the attack, and some say that Xiao Gang and the hulijing ended up joining forces to destroy them. Others say they were the last of the fox-spirits, and that their death at the same time, that the loss of their magic from the world drained the fight from the fire fairies."

Mikoto paused in her story. By this time, Naruto, instead of looking disbelieving at the story, sat on the edge of the bed, looking at Mikoto with intensity.

Sasuke almost snickered at the look of boyish excitement on Naruto's face as he waited for more of the story.

"And – and then what happened? What happened to Xiao Gang's son? And what about the fire-muse fairy lady? What happened to her?"

"Well," Mikoto said slowly, looking at her hands, "The fire fairies apparently never gave up trying to get rid of the other two. Even though Xiao Gang was gone, Gangshou and Jiang Ziya still lived. Since being disbanded, they were never on the same large scale as they had been. Even so, it seems they still wished to wreak havoc amongst the two left of the three and the three's followers. Attacks were also made on the baby and baby's mother by the trolls. The muse-fire fairy made sure to get her son to the safety of an old friend, but she too vanished after the trolls' attack."

"No," Sasuke whispered, his eyes wide as a sudden thought hit him.

"I know! Isn't that awful?" Naruto asked, turning to look at Sasuke. Sasuke shook his head in disbelief and met his mother's eyes. He had pieced together what Naruto had not.

"You mentioned that the trolls are afraid of light. They came after the mother and child. They attacked the house. The mother sent the child away, away to an old friend. And the child...he ended up with us. Naruto's the baby boy," Sasuke said, turning to look at Naruto.

Naruto blinked at Sasuke. A strange look crossed Naruto's face as he finally understood what Sasuke was implying.

"What? _Me?_ No way! Is this some sort of birthday prank? I knew you'd always get me back for putting that toad in your cake on your twelfth birthday, but hey, isn't this a bit much?"

"Naruto, this isn't a joke. And on the day of your eighteenth birthday, you became a legal adult in the fairy world. I had hoped that perhaps your father's magic would hide it, but the fairy magic in you still made itself known. Once that happened, your fairy aurora, the magic that surrounds you, spiked. There was no way to truly hide that. While I would have liked to have hidden what you are and protected you, I can't do that any more. We were certain that the protective wards around you would hold even after your aurora's power spiked on your birthday. However, Itachi didn't believe us. If Itachi had only listened to us, if only he hadn't tried to take you away, you might have been hidden longer. But your magic aurora spiked even greater when you used your magic to heal Sasuke. _Everyone_ knows where you are now, and there are those who are seeking you for many different reasons. Some want you to help seek out your beloved father, to see if he is still alive. Others want to see you dead."

Naruto shook his head, looking at his auntie as though she were crazy.

"My father's name was Minato, not Xiao Gang," Naruto said, shaking his head, as though that proved everything.

"Your father's Japanese name is Minato. It means port, doesn't it? Gang means port in Chinese. Xiao is just an affectionate term placed in front of many Chinese names. Jiang Ziya and Gangshou are Chinese names, and they are known by different Japanese names: Jiraiya and Tsunade. But we hid from them as well, as your father and I are not exactly their favorite people. Your father and I were part of a fire fairy tribe, but we left them when they slaughtered the hulijing's son. We are not exactly allies with your father's friends. I just happened to know your mother. But it is likely that your father's friends, like everyone else, will find you sooner or later."

"What did you mean by everyone knows where he is?" Sasuke asked.

"For years we have put wards on the house, protecting anyone from finding the house. A ward is a protective spell. Your father's family was the one that found the hulijing. After your father and I saw what happened, we removed ourselves from the rest of the fairies, trying to live normally among humans. In fact, I originally grew up in the same tribe with your mother, Naruto. We were friends. I'm a muse-fire fairy as well. Your mother, Kushina and I were the only two mixed fairies of our tribe. I left our tribe when I married Fugaku. She, as I mentioned, left the tribe to be with your father, Minato. I think she sent you to us because we had left the fire fairies in remorse for what had happened. We hid from everyone magical, even your father's friends because there must have been a reason she would send you to us and not them."

"So in other words, it's our duty to protect Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes."

"Protect me? Protect me from what? This is nonsense! None of this is real!"

"If you'll just look out the window, you can see for yourself how real this is," Mikoto whispered quietly. Sasuke, who had faced his mother the entire duration of her story hadn't bothered to look out the window. Still feeling slightly drained, he turned his head slowly. Naruto, always full of energy, had turned quickly and then froze in shock. Sasuke's head moved a little faster at the look on Naruto's face, and he too froze at what he saw outside the window.

There, pressed up against the window, were gray skinned things, looking at them through the window with bright eyes. Sasuke's mouth gaped open, and he realized he could actually hear them, a low hissing sound that he had heard before, a hissing that had once upon a time, made him afraid of the dark.

Their arms covered most of the light from their eyes, but they were still there, their long, clawed fingers grabbing into the house's siding.

"Trolls," Sasuke whispered.

"There's so many of them," Naruto muttered in horror.

"They're climbing all over the house," Mikoto informed them calmly. Naruto turned wide eyes back to her.

"What're we going to do? How do we get rid of them?" Naruto asked.

"That is a very good question. I wish I knew. For now, we just have to stay inside close to light, and hope they don't find the electrical box."

* * *

_"We don't want the monsters. But sometimes the monsters want us." ~ Jelp_

* * *

**Next Chapter: To Fight the Fright**

Please note that the next update to this fic will be in two weeks.

Just as a side note, a sennin really is a Japanese term for a fairy-type person: an immortal sage to be more specific.

Also, Daji's story comes from the novel _Fengshin Yanyi_ which is a Chinese novel written during the Ming Dynasty about the fall of the Shang Dynasty. I first learned about Daji's story almost three years ago in a book called _A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols: Hidden Symbols in Chinese Life and Thought_ by Wolfram Eberhard. On page 117, it talks about the fox symbol in Chinese lure, and it gave a brief description of Daji (not giving her name), by explaining the myth of how a legendary nine-tailed fox seduced the last Emperor of the Shang dynasty. I got a lot of the information in this story about Daji in _Fengshin Yanyi_ by using google.

According to the story, Jiang Ziya was a sage who exorcised the spirit from her. Now, what I thought interesting was that he was a sage, and that his names sorta reminded me of Jiraiya for some reason. During the point in this chapter when Mikoto says that the story varies from the book, it means that's where I've made everything else up. To my knowledge, there wasn't a baby between Daji and Prince Bo. All that stuff I made up.

Oh, another side note, toorooru is how you phonetically pronounce, "troll" in Japanese.

I dunno how I feel about the "fairy tale" part of the story. I tried to write it like a fairy tale, but I don't know how it turned out. X_X Let me know what you thought!! ~ Jelp


	7. Chapter 7: To Fight the Fright

**Afraid of the Dark**

**Chapter 7: To Fight the Fright**

* * *

_"I don't know what the hell's in there--but it's weird and it's pissed off!" - The Thing (1982)_

* * *

It looked like those monsters – trolls, Sasuke now knew they were called – were everywhere outside of the house.

"Those monsters are freaky," Naruto said in horror, inching closer to Sasuke on the bed. Dimly Sasuke was strangely grateful that he wasn't the only one completely terrified at their current situation.

"They're not monsters. They're fairies," Mikoto said very quietly. Naruto turned a disbelieving and incredulous glance her way, before his head whipped back around to once again look at the gray-skinned things crawling outside their window.

"Why aren't they coming in?" Naruto asked. Sasuke weakly turned his head to give Naruto an incredulous look of his own.

"Shouldn't we just be grateful that they're not?" Sasuke asked.

"It's the light. They shy away from it. If you look closely, they don't stay at the window long. They take turns looking in at us because even looking in at the light hurts them. The refraction from the window glass prevents the light from hitting their skin directly, but it's still unpleasant for them."

It was maddening for Sasuke to hear his mother talk about those things out there so calmly, as though she were explaining the strange habits of a newly discovered creature.

"When morning comes, they'll retreat. The light of the sun will agonize them."

"Are they like vampires or something? Afraid of the light?" Naruto asked.

"Actually, they have been linked throughout history as sort of vampire types. Naturally their decayed look and the coldness that they radiate give them a very stereotypical vampire look. But are they vampires? No. They don't suck blood. No, the story of vampires dates back centuries, becoming most famous during the time of Vlad the Impaler..."

Sasuke was only paying half attention to his mother, lost in his own thoughts.

His world had turned so upside down the past few days; he didn't know what was going on anymore. Secret upon secret had been kept from him and Naruto. He was apparently a fairy. _Fairy_. Sasuke almost snorted. Those troll things were fairies too. The thought that he was closer to those monsters than humans was unnerving.

Sasuke only barely registered his mother's calming voice as she went over the history of how Vlad the Impaler had been wronged for something or other, and how he'd ended up seeking his revenge by killing off lots of people and impaling their dead bodies on stakes for others to see – hence how Vlad the Impaler received his name. There was something also about how he actually drank the blood of the people he slaughtered – another reference to the vampire thing.

"But what might really interest you, is that the name of Vlad the Impaler's father is Dracul, and in their language, Dracula, means son of Dracul. So in fact, author Bram Stoker based his novel off of that name versus the original name he was going to use for Count Dracula: Count Wampyr."

"Count Wampyr? That sounds like another way of saying Count Vampire, only with an accent, and not quite as scary," Naruto said, his eyes drawn back to Mikoto's.

At least Naruto found his mother's story interesting enough to draw his attention away from those hideous things outside the window.

"I think it would have been a scarier name if we'd never heard of the name Dracula. We're just used to hearing Dracula instead of Wampyr. Of course, historians argue that Bram Stoker didn't really base his character off of Vlad the Impaler, but historians will debate over anything if you give them enough time to do so. Put ten historians in a room, and you'll get twenty different opinions."

Naruto pondered the math for a moment and finally gave a little laugh at her joke. Sasuke knew his mother was trying to distract their attention from the monsters, but it wasn't working for him. There were monsters outside his window, and even though he knew what they were, he couldn't think of them as fairies.

Naruto seemed less panicked now, the story clearly interesting to him.

Sasuke wished it had calmed him down. Instead, images of those gray-skinned creatures sprouting fangs with a thirst for his blood filled his mind. The memory of his first encounter with them when he was four rushed back to him, and he shuddered as he remembered that cold feeling. The thought made him slightly sick to his stomach.

Not to mention the fact that he felt extraordinarily weak. What was he to do if the monsters decided to rush them and destroy the light? There was no way that Sasuke could do anything akin to fighting. Hell, he didn't think he'd be able to run from them, let alone try and defend himself.

"...they're more like stereo-typical trolls in what history has described them."

"Trolls? Isn't that their name? Why aren't they just classified as just trolls, and not fairies?" Sasuke said, catching the tail end of his mother's latest stream of babble.

"But trolls are a type of fairy due to their semi-magical abilities, I already told you that," Mikoto explained.

It didn't matter if they were fairies or not. Thinking of them as trolls was easier than fairies. Fairy – he was a fairy. Or so his mother said. He didn't want to try and relate what he was to what those things were. Troll and fairy were very different in his opinion.

Then again if he were considered a fairy, it was very different that those little cutesy things he'd seen on television. Maybe he could rename himself as something other than a fairy. If he knew what "abilities" he supposedly had, badass sorcerer might be a good thing to rename himself as.

"So fire fairies due stuff with fire, right? Why don't you just make a fire and have them disappear? Shouldn't all that light scare them away?" Naruto asked Mikoto curiously.

"First of all sweetheart, the size of a fire to scare all of these trolls away would burn the house down with us inside. We'd die. Second," Mikoto said, unaware of the blanch on Naruto's face, "I am a fire _and_ muse fairy descendant. However, my abilities lie more toward a muse fairy."

"What can muse fairies do?" Sasuke asked interested. He was part muse fairy as well after all.

"Muse fairies do things with the mind, influence memory, cast illusions – mostly called glamour. Glamour is a type of illusion that allows fairies to hide their appearance. I've been keeping up a ward on the house that makes it impossible for other fairies to tell that it's here. Naruto, when I first heard that your house was house-napped, as you had said, I thought it was just that there was a strong illusion placed on the house to make it invisible to magic users. Knowing the location, I could tell that there was no magical illusion. The house was actually gone."

"Hey!" Naruto said excitedly, "Could you just use an illusion to make them think it was daylight outside so they'd want to go away now?"

Sasuke stared at Naruto. "That's a good idea," Sasuke murmured.

"You sound surprised," Naruto said, sounding rather huffy.

"Is it possible? Could you do that?" Sasuke asked his mother. Mikoto looked thoughtful.

"You know, it is possible. However..." she trailed off.

"What is it?" Naruto asked, looking slightly crest-fallen that his idea wouldn't work. Sasuke mused it was almost amusing that Naruto had been so against the idea of them being fairies, and now he was the one who had thought about the fact that she could use magic.

"I might have enough strength to make it appears like daylight outside. The only problem with that is then we would then need to attempt to vacate the house as soon as possible."

"Attempt?"

"They would realize that it was an illusion after a couple of minutes, and try and storm the house. There's no guarantee that they will not stop crawling over the house, and we'd still have to attempt to get through a sea of troll bodies. Plus, the fact that they are all over the house and that there is not a horde of police cars outside means that there are other fairies here, non troll fairies. Either way, several other fairies most likely know the general location of where you are, Naruto. That's why I said that I would have told you sooner rather than later that you were fairies, or in Naruto's case, a mix of things, because I could tell that _others_ were coming close."

"Then why didn't we run for it sooner?" Sasuke asked.

"Never run from a horde of trolls. It only excites them."

Naruto shuddered.

"Do you remember sweetheart? They attacked you. That's how you came to be with us. You were attacked and your mother sent you here. You had claw marks down your back. That is one of the worst things about the trolls. Their nails are lethal, and they have a numbing poison that makes the wound worse."

"No, I don't remember."

"I remember. I woke up covered in blood," Sasuke said. "But..." Sasuke stopped, his head throbbing slightly. The memories were coming more freely now. He remembered how Dr. Ibiki had said that he wasn't supposed to tell his mother that they had talked about the monsters, and that Sasuke had been the one to save Naruto.

"But how did he survive? Was it because we heal each other?" Sasuke asked, trying to word it carefully. There was a strong urge for him not to mention that he'd talked with Dr. Ibiki.

"Heal each other?" Naruto repeated, confused. Sasuke nodded.

A large pounding at the window made them jump, and one of the trolls dragged its nails down the pane of glass slowly, a horrendous screeching noise reverberating through the room. The lights flickered dimly.

"Do you have any flashlights?" Mikoto asked as she turned to rummage through their closet. Naruto turned toward his former dresser.

"I had an froggie flashlight in here, but I don't know what of my stuff got moved," Naruto said as he rifled through the bottom of the drawer. Sasuke noticed that the drawers were definitely a lot emptier, but the frog flashlight was still thankfully hidden at the back. Naruto clicked it on to make sure it still worked.

Sasuke turned toward his dresser, and tentatively reached out a hand to point out where a small flashlight sat. His body still felt extremely weak, and he felt silly when his mother had to hand him the flashlight.

"There're a few in the closet. We had the one that changed colors when you moved the different lenses. You know, the one with the purple lens that kept breaking?" Naruto said, reminding Sasuke. Sasuke nodded. Naruto had bought it at the store because he liked how the lights changed to all the colors of the rainbow. However, when he got home, the purple lens had shattered. When he took it back to get another one, that purple lens had also shattered. Naruto just decided to use all the other colors. As long as the orange lens worked, he was pretty satisfied.

"What about that maglite flashlight?" Sasuke asked. As Sasuke was still weary, Naruto decided to dig through the closet to look on his own.

All in all, as Naruto searched through their closet, he ended up finding seven more flashlights: the multi-colored-lens flashlight (with the broken purple lens), a small key chain flashlight, a small hand held mirror that had a light in it, two maglites, and two larger flashlights.

Naruto grabbed one of the large flashlights, pointed it directly at the window where the trolls were moving back and forth, and clicked the on button.

The flashlight didn't work.

"That was anti-climatic," Naruto grunted as he grabbed the other larger flashlight.

He pointed it at he floor to make sure this one worked. Once he was satisfied, he pointed the light out the window, right toward the trolls and turned that one on.

The effect was immediate. Sasuke had to put his hands over his ears at the shrieking the trolls made, as well as the sound of their nails screeching along the paneling as they did their best to move away from the window as fast as possible.

"Please don't antagonize them dear. They're not very pleasant when agitated," Mikoto reprimanded slightly.

"No kidding," Naruto said, as he put a knuckle behind his ear and rubbed.

"What's that?" Mikoto asked as she peeked into the closet, gesturing to a box on the floor.

"What's what?" Naruto asked, leaning back around to look at what she was looking at. "Oh! That was a birthday present I bought for Sasuke. I don't remember giving it to him. Happy belated birthday Sasuke!" Naruto said grinning. Sasuke looked at the box. A pang of guilt filled Sasuke. He hadn't been able to give Naruto his birthday present because of everything that had happened on Naruto's birthday and since then.

Then again, as Sasuke really looked at the box, he realized what it was.

It was the box for the black light that Naruto had given him for his eighteenth birthday. Naruto hadn't forgotten to give it to him. He just didn't remember because Itachi had made them forget due to what they had done underneath that black light.

"A black light?" Mikoto asked, her voice sounding worried, more worried than when she had talked about the trolls outside.

"You did give it to me. It broke, remember?" Sasuke said, trying to sound as though having the black light didn't matter.

"Uh, it did?" Naruto asked. He rubbed the back of his head. "Why didn't I go back and get-"

"Could we have used it against the trolls?" Sasuke asked his mother, effectively cutting off Naruto. Mikoto paused for a moment.

"Not quite." She turned to look at the black light box, then at Naruto, and then back at Sasuke. Sasuke couldn't help the blush on his face. "I see," she murmured.

"What do you see? Are they doing something again?" Naruto wondered anxiously. He looked out the window to see if she was looking at the trolls, but Naruto didn't see how her gaze never left Sasuke's.

"We'll speak later," Mikoto said to Sasuke before she turned her attention to Naruto. Sasuke swallowed. Did she know? How could she know? Yet with the black light…something weird had definitely happened underneath the black light. Maybe she could explain it.

Naruto jumped back as claws reappeared at the window, making more screeching sounds. Naruto grunted in frustration.

"No fire because the house will burn down. No illusion because there's another fairy that will find us. What the hell are we supposed to do?" Naruto demanded as he paced back and forth. His pacing stopped when the lights flickered off and then on again. "They're going to turn the lights off sooner or later," Naruto noted, his voice hitching slightly in fear.

"It appears we'll need to fight, but I've never been good at fighting, and you two don't have any idea how to use the magic inside you."

"We would have if you had just told us sooner!" Sasuke accused. He rubbed his head, frustrated, and more than a little scared. They had flashlights now, but what good would that do against the number of trolls outside? And he was still feeling exhausted. "I feel crippled," Sasuke groaned out, hating to admit to that weakness. "Can Naruto heal me?" Sasuke asked, looking at his mother hopefully.

"That's right, you said something about being able to heal. Something else I supposedly don't remember yet?" Naruto asked.

"The claw marks on your back – I healed those. Didn't I?" Sasuke asked, directing his confirmation toward his mother.

"It appears that way."

"How? Can Naruto make me stronger now? If we touch, we heal each other, right?" Sasuke asked.

"It's not quite that simple sweetie," Mikoto said, looking sad.

"Well-"

"We'll speak about it later," Mikoto said. Sasuke frowned. She used the same tone in her voice when she had when talking about the black light. It didn't sound reassuring.

They fell silent after a while. There was so much to talk about that it made it difficult to say anything at all. Sasuke felt weak lying on the bed and felt his headache getting worse.

Naruto kept pacing back and forth, glancing out the window. Mikoto looked contemplative.

"Can we call for help or something?" Naruto asked after awhile, pulling out his cell phone from his pocket.

"Who do we call, the police? Yes, I can see that conversation now. Excuse me operator, there are trolls climbing all over the house, and if they scratch you their claws have a poisonous substance in them that causes greater bleeding, but an anesthetic in it that you can't feel it as you bleed to death. They're afraid of light, so just shine a big beam at the house, but be careful because when you do that because fire fairies will come and probably set you on fire! Oh, and I'm sure they'll believe all that!" Sasuke snapped.

"What the fuck is your problem?" Naruto demanded angrily, shoving his phone back in his pocket.

"It was a stupid idea!"

"At least I'm trying to think of what to do!"

"Naruto, Sasuke, calm down!"

Sasuke turned his head away, feeling ashamed of himself. He shouldn't have snapped at Naruto like that. He just felt frustrated at his helplessness.

"What other fairies do you think are out there?" Sasuke asked. "And why aren't they doing anything to try and get to us?" Sasuke asked after a while.

"There is a long standing ward on the house. No fairies can see the house. In fact, at the moment, if they were standing by the street, they wouldn't even be able to see the trolls on the house, let alone the house itself. Due to the ward, they can't do anything magical to us until we leave the house."

"But the trolls – aren't they fairies?"

"Yes, but they're a type of Sound fairy which means that they actually see very little to begin with. Light wavelengths hurt them because they're more intoned with sound wavelengths. Trolls, like all fairies, are sensitive to light depending on their type. Sound fairies don't really see, per se, but anything with a wavelength shorter than 800nm in length, hurts not only their eyesight but also their entire body. While they're more sensitive to sound, and due to the fact that all fairies are sensitive to certain types of light, the way light affects them is amplified. Trolls are more sensitive to sounds, which are wavelengths that range from millimeters to meters in length. It's a trade off."

"Wait, wait, I'm lost," Naruto said, rubbing his head in confusion.

"It's physics," Sasuke said, trying not to sound snappish. This was the information that he wanted to hear. Light affected fairies. He'd been affected by light – by that black light.

"I never took physics. Please don't try and explain this to me right now. I've had lots of explanations for one day. Just give it to me non-scientific or non-magical. Simplify it for me," Naruto pleaded.

"Trolls use a type of sonar so they don't need light to see. They also aren't as magical as other fairies, so they can get inside the ward by listening. Right now they are literally feeling their way around the house. Other fairies would be more affected by the ward around the house. At least, I think so. I thought that even trolls wouldn't be able to get by the ward on the house, but they must have some other ability that I'm not aware of."

"Sensitive to sound – you mean they can hear everything we've said?" Sasuke asked, mortified.

"Of course not. I made sure to put up a sound barrier ward around us when I realized they were on the house. It helps them from hearing us, and they can't actually see us – though apparently light still affects them as that flashlight scared them off – but they know we're here because of the _lack_ of sound. It's like a dead zone, telling them that we're right here."

"That's why they haven't come inside yet. They can't tell where things are!" Naruto said in understanding.

"Yes, and no. The do know where we are, and that's enough for them to trap us. And they _are_ in the house."

"What?" Naruto breathed.

"They're on the first floor, trapped in your bedroom. They came in when I went to look for you, Naruto. I had little time to deal with them. It was quite a shock, I must say, to see them coming from inside your room. They got in through the window, and since your lights were off they were able to come in through your new room. Of course they didn't get very far as the hall light was on, but I feel rather foolish for not thinking to turn on all the lights in the house."

Sasuke felt his face pale. They'd come in through Naruto's room. If Naruto had been there...

"Why can't we hear them?" Naruto asked.

"We can. That's why the hissing's so loud," Sasuke said in realization.

"What about-"

The lights flickered off before flickering back on. Naruto jumped, and Sasuke squeezed the flashlight in his hand. Even Mikoto's calm exterior was finally crumbling. The banging at the window intensified when the lights had flickered off, and to Sasuke's horror, he noticed a slight crack in the glass of his bedroom window.

They all turned on their flashlights and kept them on.

"We're not going to make it till sunrise," Mikoto murmured.

"What're we going to do? Fight them? Shine light at them?" Naruto asked, gripping his flashlight tighter. It was scary to think that the trolls couldn't see them, but could feel where the window was, and the only thing stopping them from bursting in were the lights.

"Once all the lights are off there will be too many of them for the flashlights to be effective. Sasuke, can you stand?"

No, Sasuke wanted to say, but he made the effort anyway. He swung his legs over the side of his bed, and though his head swam with the movements, he found that he could still stand, if dizzily.

"Naruto, can you carry Sasuke on your back?" Naruto nodded. Even if he wasn't able to, Sasuke had a feeling Naruto would have said yes anyway. Leaning down slightly, Naruto managed to hoist Sasuke onto his back.

Sasuke did his best to grip his arms around Naruto as tightly as possible without choking him. Being so flushed against Naruto made memories that Itachi had suppressed surface to his mind. Sasuke tried not to flinch away from touching Naruto as he knew keeping his body as rigid as possible would help Naruto better carry him. Dead weight was always so much heavier and harder to carry, and Sasuke didn't want to be any more of a burden than he already felt he was.

The lights flickered off again before flickering back on. Sasuke kept his light pointed at the window to prevent them from breaking more of the glass.

"We don't have much time. Sasuke, take Naruto and go when I tell you too. I'll meet up with you later."

Sasuke took a few moments to process his mother's words. The first thing he processed was that they were clearly running out of time. Second, she had told _Sasuke_ to take _Naruto_. It was Naruto who had to take _him_. Sasuke couldn't move, so how was he supposed to take Naruto anywhere?

And third, why would his mom be meeting up with them later? What was she planning?

"Auntie, where am I taking Sasuke?" Naruto said, clearly not having heard Mikoto's misspeak.

"Somewhere well-lit, and public. Sasuke, I mean it – when I tell you to, _go_."

Naruto frowned at her, as she looked right at Sasuke when she spoke. Sasuke frowned too. What was she talking –

The lights flickered off, and this time, they stayed off. Naruto and Sasuke shone their lit flashlights at the window while Mikoto shined hers at the door.

The screeching and wailing of the trolls began to get louder, and Sasuke's heart raced. Every now and then a troll would get in the line of their flashlight and let out a screeching noise, but it was clear that the window glass breaking was the least of their problems.

More trolls had entered the house.

They could hear them moving around downstairs, and the sound of shattered glass from far away told them they'd broken in through more windows.

_Thump. Thump. Thump._

Sasuke's head shot toward the door as he heard them come up the steps and down from Itachi's bedroom. _BANG! BANG! BANG!_ The door began to shake with the force of the trolls' pounding. The door began to break.

The door splintered, and a fist shot through with long nails, though a few had broken from the harsh pounding. Mikoto shined her light at the hand, the skin of the troll's hand began to smoke as there was no glass to dampen the direct ray of light, making it screech in pain before pulling its hand back out from the hole.

Suddenly the entire door was off its hinges, the trolls using the door as a shield as they charged into the room, door in front of them to block the light.

"No!" Sasuke yelled as his mother took the hit from the trolls charging at her with the broken door, her flashlight getting knocked from her hand. The light shot across the room, and the trolls that had just stormed the door shrieked as the light hit them unexpectedly from behind.

The window glass shattered completely as more trolls began to rush them from the window, screeching and hissing as the light from their flashlight caught them in its rays.

"GO!" Mikoto bellowed, and suddenly Sasuke realized what his mother had meant.

Even in the middle of the chaos, a dim memory came to Sasuke's mind.

When they were both nine, Naruto had fallen from the monkey bars, and Sasuke had rushed to his side.

No, not just rushed to his side.

He'd _flown_.

Sasuke gripped Naruto harder, feeling a surge of adrenaline as he leaned forward, pushing Naruto's body weight forward. Sharp pains seared through his back, but the pain just fueled his adrenaline rush, and he felt a surge of strength enter his body. Naruto gave a startled yelp at Sasuke's harsh grip, but Sasuke held Naruto tightly in his grasp.

Darting for the window, Sasuke narrowed his wings – _wings!_ – letting Naruto shine his flashlight at the trolls (and kicking his feet wildly) as they flew through the window.

Sasuke felt the coldness of the night air assault him as he felt his wings beat higher and higher into the sky.

"HOLY FUCKING SHIT! WE'RE FLYING!" Naruto screamed, half in terror half in excitement.

Sasuke felt a sense of euphoria as he flew through the air, and with a quick glance at his back, he took a look at his wings.

They were a fleshy-pale color, and for some unexpected reason, he couldn't help but feel grateful they weren't purple and pink butterfly wings like TV fairies were known to have.

But the adrenaline faded quickly even as Sasuke darted through the air, moving faster than he'd ever remember moving before, even in a car, and circled around until he came to the closest well-lit, public area: their school.

Sasuke half dropped and half rolled Naruto onto the ground, his already weakened body feeling even more drained and shaky. Exerting all that energy had taken a toll on his body.

Naruto was half-laughing half-crying at their quick get away from the trolls, but Sasuke wasn't able to share in with his laughter. The horrible realization crashed down on him that they'd left his mom back there alone with all those terrible monsters. Even as he tried to point this out to Naruto, he saw black creeping into the corner of his vision before he felt himself falling into unconsciousness.

* * *

_"The best way to fight the fear is to face it head on. And if whatever scares you is that scary, hightail it in the other direction." ~ Jelp_

* * *

**Next Chapter: What Now?**

Sorry for the lack of update last week. I was with my fiancé's family. His aunt passed away. :( Next chapter will be in two weeks.

Anyway, I decided to post this chapter a little early because tomorrow I'm having a procedure done to my foot, and I don't know if I'll feel like updating tomorrow because a) I'll be in too much pain due to the anti-cancerous fluid injections into the bottom of my foot or b) I'll be so loopy from the oral vicodin. The last time I had this (only semi-successful) procedure done, it was _extremely_ painful, and when I took the pain meds, well, let's just say I wasn't all there.

Wish me luck and hope I'm still coherent! (Oh, and what did you think of the chapter?) ~ Jelp


	8. Chapter 8: What Now?

**Afraid of the Dark**

**Chapter 8: What Now?**

* * *

_"Instead of something I want, can it be something I don't want?"_

_"Okay."_

_"I don't wanna be scared anymore." - The Sixth Sense. M. Night Shyamalan_

* * *

It was the annoying chirp of birds that first startled Sasuke out of his sleep. He had a headache, and the sound of the birds was annoying.

Wasn't it October? Didn't they know that summer was fucking over?

"I hate birds," Sasuke hissed angrily.

"You're awake," Naruto whispered and his voice was thick with sleep. Sasuke blinked and finally registered more than just the annoying sounds of the birds.

It was common for them to end up pressed close together in their bed (usually Naruto ended up spooning him) but despite the familiarity of being so close to Naruto, there was something very off about the current situation.

He was pressed against Naruto, but they weren't in their bed. Instead, they were on two pushed together couches. Sasuke blinked, and sat up in a daze, looking around to see that they were in what looked like the teacher lounge of their high school. Sasuke felt utterly confused, and for a moment wondered if he were still dreaming before he remembered escaping from the trolls the night before.

All the lights were on in the small room, even though there would have been plenty of sunlight coming in from the window.

Sasuke looked to the left at the window that was propped open. Groaning slightly, Sasuke climbed over one of the couches' ends and moved to close the window, noting that the birds were muted substantially. He stretched his arms, feeling aches in his body. There was a dull throbbing in his head, and a strange tingling sensation in his back by his shoulder blades.

The tingling in his shoulder blades made him remember the fantastic wings that he had had, and he looked behind him. His shirt wasn't torn as he had expected it to be. Perhaps he had dreamed up the part that he had sprouted wings? It hurt his head to think about, so Sasuke decided to focus on the present.

The clock on the wall said that it was 7:42am. At least they wouldn't have to worry about trolls for the time being. They had the entire day and the safety of daylight to figure out what to do.

So many questions whirled in his head, with so many concerns. He desperately wanted to ask Naruto these questions, but he knew with the way that Naruto was looking at him warily that Naruto knew just as much – or perhaps even less – as he did.

"How did we get in the school?" Sasuke asked. He figured Naruto should at least know the answer to that question. Naruto nodded his head to the window.

"It was propped open. You're fucking heavy to lift you know? And you slept through a bunch. It scared the shit outta me when you didn't wake up when I shoved you through the window and you fell to the floor. I thought I might have knocked you out or something which is why you didn't wake up for a while."

Well, that explained the dull throbbing in his head.

"You remember what happened before though, right? How we got to the school?" Naruto asked, tentatively. Sasuke nodded.

"My mom..." Sasuke murmured, "we left her." Naruto looked guilty.

"She said she'd meet up with us later," Naruto said, trying to be reassuring. "We'll just wait for her to find us here. I called and left her voice messages telling her where we are."

"There were hundreds of trolls crawling all over the house. We shouldn't have just left here there," Sasuke said, trying but failing at not sounding accusing.

"What were we supposed to do? She'll be fine. Auntie Mikoto is strong."

While Sasuke wanted to argue against Naruto he knew that no good would come of it.

Everything felt surreal. They were sitting in the teacher lounge of their school, with no idea of what they were supposed to do. Did they wait there all day for his mom to show up? Did they go to the police? That thought was quickly thrown aside just as it had been last night; the police would laugh at them with their story about crazy trolls, magic, and fairies.

But what could they do on their own? They needed help.

"Why the school?" Naruto asked.

"What?" Sasuke asked for clarification.

"The school. Why did you pick the school? Yeah, it's well lit, but they could have followed us."

"A hunch. If there was protection for us at home, wouldn't there be protection for us here as well?" Sasuke said. In fact, he hadn't thought about that when he was soaring through the air at all, but now that he said it, it seemed to make sense. Saying 'I didn't have any energy to go any further' didn't sound cool at all; it made him feel less weak if he said it was guarded than because all he could do was keel over as soon as he landed.

"How're you feeling?" Naruto asked.

"I'm up and about. My head hurts," Sasuke said, glaring at Naruto, "but I'm alright. Hungry."

As he said it, he noticed a small refrigerator, a microwave, a coffee maker, a sink with some dishes stacked in them, and cupboards that he hoped had food in them. Off to the side he noticed a soda machine and a vending machine. He didn't think he had any money on him, but he was sure he could break into the machines if necessary.

There was a phone mounted on the wall off to the side. Even if Naruto's phone ran out of battery, they could call for help from there. Thinking about calling for help made a sudden thought strike Sasuke.

"Where has my dad been? There's no way they really would have taken Itachi to a mental institution. How could anything be more crazy than this actuality?" Sasuke murmured to himself, going over to the phone.

"What are you doing?" Naruto asked.

"Calling his cell and finding out what the hell is going on," Sasuke said.

"I already tried calling. He didn't pick up. It kept going straight to voicemail."

"Then I'll call again," Sasuke said, picking up the receiver and dialing anyway. Like Naruto said, the call went right into his father's voicemail. He left a quick message with the extension of this phone number that he found printed across the side of the machine.

Just for good measure, Sasuke tried calling him again. When there was no response, Sasuke slammed the receiver back, feeling beyond frustrated.

"We can't just stay here and wait all day. It's daylight now, so the trolls won't come out. We need to get away from here while we have plenty of daylight on our side," Sasuke said, arguing against Naruto's earlier comment that they should stay here and wait for his mom. As much as Sasuke wanted to see that his mother was okay, he wanted to make sure that they were both unharmed if, no _when_, she found them.

"Should we go back to the house and..." but Naruto trailed off, both of them suddenly not wanting to see what horrible destruction and possibly death lay in the house.

"No. We shouldn't go back. There could be another fairy involved watching the house. Mom thought the trolls wouldn't be there without aid. We don't know for sure if there was someone there or not, but they could also be looking for us in the area. We can't rule out that possibility. First, we should eat. I need strength and energy for all of this. I haven't eaten anything in days. It's a wonder I haven't died yet."

As soon as Sasuke said the words "died yet" Naruto turned his head away immediately. Even so, Sasuke saw the dark look that crossed Naruto's face. Sasuke didn't have to wonder very long to find out what had made Naruto look so upset.

"Don't say that. Don't joke about dying."

"I-"

"I thought you had died when the other car hit us. Your heart stopped. It felt like my heart should have stop then too. You haven't ever lost anyone in your family before. I don't know if my mom is dead or not, but I lost her. It's like she's dead. I don't know what I would have done if you had really died. I can't – I mean, I love Auntie Mikoto, and Uncle Fugaku and Itachi, but if _you_ had died..."

Sasuke processed Naruto's words. He had never really thought about Naruto losing his mother in those terms before. Yes, he had thought for years that Naruto's mother was in a coma and alive, but Naruto was still without her. Sasuke had gotten so used to Naruto being there, that he had never stopped to think about what it must be like for Naruto to have been uprooted from the mother he loved and thrust into an entirely new lifestyle.

A strain of dark thoughts began to form in Sasuke's head. What would it be like to lose everyone he had ever held dear? What would it be like to be an orphan?

How different would he have been without the support of his family, and without Naruto there alongside him through everything in his life?

His family were the only ones he truly cared about. If they died he'd have no one. No parents. No Itachi. No Naruto.

Just the thought of that loneliness swept over him, a wave of depression hitting him hard, pulling his thoughts down, making it hard to breathe at the mere _thought_ of such aloneness.

His mother could be dead. Itachi and his father were missing. For all he knew, something could have happened to them too.

And those things, those _monsters_ were after Naruto. They wanted to take Naruto away from him. There was no way he could let that happen, especially now that Naruto might be the only one that he had left. He had to think: make up a plan in order to make sure that the trolls didn't take away his most important person.

It was slightly jarring, but with everything that had happened, he found it was true. Naruto was the most important person to him. If Sasuke lost his parents, he would be devastated. Still, he would know Naruto was there with him. If he lost Naruto, he would be broken.

Sasuke didn't say anything to Naruto's comment. Instead he distracted himself from his dark train of thought by turning to rummage through the refrigerator to see what the teachers had in the way of food. There was no way he could formulate a good plan unless he had nourished himself and made sure he had sustenance.

"Whoa," Naruto said, coming up behind Sasuke to look in the fridge as well. "Two couches, a TV, lots of food in a fridge, a microwave, a hot drinker maker, an adjacent bathroom – all this stuff kinda makes me want to become a teacher."

Sasuke decided not to point out that he doubted one measly planning period assigned to teachers where the teacher needed to plan out a lesson, make copies, and other such jobs meant that they got very little time to spend in the teacher lounge. Not to mention all the grading they had to do. One homework for each student times that by 130 students worth of homework to look over a day. That's not even mentioning having to deal with all the unruly students and the parents of obnoxious students who insisted that their snot-nosed, delinquent, lying, and misbehaving teenagers were truly little angels.

Sasuke never, ever wanted to be a teacher. And even though Naruto wouldn't think about all the downsides to becoming a teacher, Sasuke actually thought that Naruto would make a great teacher.

They just had to manage to live that long and successfully hide all their secrets for that to happen.

"If we take this, isn't it stealing?"

Sasuke turned around and blinked at Naruto. He was being serious. Naruto actually thought they'd be coming back to school after this, and that they would get in trouble for taking the food. Naruto was viewing this like a weekend adventure like in the movies with the problem solved by Sunday night, and then back to school Monday morning.

There was no way this situation was going to be that easy.

Sasuke's family had hidden Naruto away for years. Things were about to change, and there was no going back to what they had been before, that was for sure.

Sasuke didn't bother to respond to Naruto's question of integrity. Instead, he took out some frozen, instant breakfast platters from the freezer, one for him and one for Naruto since he doubted Naruto would want to do the "stealing" as he put it.

Sasuke grabbed some plastic forks and cups that he found in the cupboard (he didn't want to use the teacher's dishes that had been left in the sink, especially since quite a few of them had some funky colored stains on them).

"Eat," Sasuke said after he got the breakfast platters out of the microwave. "You need to eat as well. I'm sure the teachers would understand." He thrust the platter at Naruto and then made sure that he got a cup of orange juice as well. The simple sugars would give them both a quick boost of energy.

Thinking about his own statement, Sasuke doubted that anyone would actually believe their situation let alone understand it. Fairies, trolls, and demon foxes didn't quite fit the norm. But he wasn't about to bring that up to Naruto.

They ate in silence. After he finished, Naruto dumped his trash in the trashcan and turned to look at Sasuke.

"What you said last night about healing..." Naruto started. Sasuke put his fork down and looked at Naruto curiously.

"Healing each other?"

"Yeah...that..."

Sasuke waited for Naruto to keep talking, but he didn't.

"What about it?" Sasuke prompted. They had moved the couches back to their normal spots (or at least where Sasuke assumed the normal spot was as he'd been unconscious for that part). Sasuke sat on one couch, Naruto on the other. Sasuke frowned as he saw the way Naruto was looking down at his hands, fidgeting with them nervously.

"And the thing with the lights...and the black light..."

Sasuke's eyes widened as he saw the blush on Naruto's face. Suddenly Sasuke realized something.

Naruto remembered. Or at least, remembered some things.

After all, Sasuke's mother had said Naruto would get his memories back; it just might take a little more time. She never specified how much longer.

Sasuke propped his elbows on his knees and gently let his chin rest in his hands. He was thoughtful. Naruto continued.

"Your birthday, the black light," Naruto started, but he refused to meet Sasuke's eye.

"And?"

"Never mind. It's nothing," Naruto quickly muttered out.

"What do you remember?" Sasuke asked, his voice calm, his face blank, expressionless.

To most people, Sasuke had always been cold and distant. Sasuke knew that. There were very few people in his life that were important to him. In fact, everyone who was important to him was in his family. Everyone else was just there. He had parents, an elder brother, and his best friend.

He didn't need more. He was happy with the people he had close to him.

Those that were dear to him always saw the real Sasuke. Any emotions and problems he had, he didn't hide it from them.

Everyone else thought his expression rarely changed.

And Sasuke felt a coldness settle inside him as he realized that something like this made him put on such a front with Naruto, his most precious person. Naruto narrowed his eyes. He apparently knew that too.

"I know that look. Don't you dare give me that blank look! I'm not a fucking nobody," Naruto hissed, angry. Sasuke let his own anger leak into his face.

"How am I supposed to deal with this? The memory is fuzzy. All I know is one minute we were fine, and the next minute we were having a grind session. It's not normal," Sasuke said, standing up quickly, regretting the decision as he did so. He felt dizzy, and weak, and cursed as he had to sit back down again.

Naruto moved to help him, but Sasuke all but hissed at him to back off. Narrowing his eyes, Naruto pointed an accusing finger at Sasuke.

"That's why you were so fucking moody last night. I wondered why you were all uptight with me for something that wasn't even my fault. You took it out on me because you remembered it and you didn't know how to deal with it."

"Do you?" Sasuke asked, rubbing at his head.

"I don't even remember everything that happened. And you started it anyway!" Naruto said, accusingly. Sasuke glared at him, and found his sudden sense of vertigo intensifying.

"Me? You're the one that got me the black light!"

"I didn't know what would happen with it! I mean, I guess light affects us weird too, you know, like the trolls, but your mom didn't exactly explain that to us beforehand. How was I supposed to know?"

Neither spoke. It was awkward talking about what had happened. Sasuke looked across at Naruto, and Naruto stared back at him.

Sasuke didn't feel anything sexual when he looked at Naruto. No stirring desire rose in the pit of his stomach. He cared about Naruto, and if he had to say he loved someone, yes, he would say he loved Naruto. But not like that: not romantically.

And with the way that Naruto was looking back at him, he could tell that Naruto didn't feel anything remotely sexual for him either.

"It's probably just something that happens with certain types of light, most likely black light. Come to think of it, probably any light that's got a short wavelength on the electro magnetic spectrum."

"The eleca-maga what?"

"The electro magnetic spectrum; it's another term for the light spectrum."

"If you say so."

"Think of it, violet/purple has a short wavelength, and that colored lens on your multi-colored lens flashlight was the only color that kept breaking. I bet Itachi or Mom kept breaking it."

"Er, right."

Sasuke all but rolled his eyes at Naruto. Naruto had some good ideas at times, but he wasn't the highly acclaimed academic scholar that Sasuke was.

Sasuke was about to explain further, when the phone in the room rang shrilly.

Naruto jumped at the sound, while Sasuke's heart beat a little faster. Naruto shot out of his seat to answer the phone. Part of Sasuke wondered if it was a good idea to do so. What were the odds that someone would call this extension in the middle of a Sunday? Hope suddenly rose inside him as he remembered that he had left this phone's extension in a voicemail for his father. Maybe that was him now!

"Hello?" Naruto answered. Sasuke got up, wanting to hear who was on the other end of the phone.

Naruto gave him a puzzled look before sharing the receiver with Sasuke.

An eerie breathing sound buzzed through the phone, the noise making a cold chill run down Sasuke's spine.

"Is the little one there?" the breathing voice croaked out in a deep rasp. The color drained from Naruto's face and he slammed the receiver down.

"What the-"

The lights flickered out, and Sasuke did his best not to lose his calm. The light shone in from the window, but Sasuke still dashed to where the flashlights were lying on one of the couches. He tossed one to Naruto, and they both clicked them on.

"What do we do?" Naruto asked, his eyes darting back and forth. The staff room was unusually quiet, and Sasuke realized it wasn't just the lights that had turned off, as the hum of the refrigerator was suddenly absent as well.

"It's not just the lights; the whole power went out," Sasuke mused.

The distant sound of a door being slammed open echoed from down the hall.

They needed to get out of there, and they needed to get out of there fast.

Sasuke lost no time in turning around and shoving open the window, deciding it was better to be outside in the open light than shut inside of a dark room with who knew how many lurking trolls.

Sasuke climbed out, flashlight in hand, and Naruto did the same. They both walked quickly away from the school, neither saying a word even though they both stole nervous glances behind them.

It was like nothing was out of place as they walked away from the school, but Sasuke couldn't shake the feeling of eyes on him. He didn't hear any sounds coming from behind them, and he stole another backward glance, watching his school looking as harmless as normal.

The feeling of being watched refused to leave him, and he and Naruto picked up their pace, walking a few blocks away to a more lively area.

There were people milling about on Sunday morning in this part of town; some were heading to church, others out to breakfast. Sasuke and Naruto decided to head into a little cafe that a lot of the upper classman liked to visit before school for a quick breakfast.

The initial fear that had hit him when the power went off in the school slowly drained away, allowing Sasuke to think a little more rationally. He realized that Naruto had a lot more friends than he did. Sometimes Naruto had come here with those other friends without him, and Sasuke realized that he had been jealous of those taking Naruto's time away from him. In fact, he clearly remembered the relief when Naruto had decided not to pursue a relationship with Sakura because Sasuke had felt that he would have gotten pushed to the side if Naruto had a girlfriend.

Sasuke may not have had any sexual feelings for Naruto, but he could grudgingly admit that he didn't like the idea of Naruto spending too much time with anyone else.

As they entered the cafe, both scanned the crowd to see if there was anyone there that they knew. Being around so many people had made that feeling of someone watching them all but vanish. It was like nothing was out of the ordinary.

Neither had any money, and they had just eaten, but it was one of the closest places they could think to go to that had enough people that they hoped no one would try and mess with them there.

Since it was a Sunday morning and not a school morning, they didn't see anyone from their school. Sasuke wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. It was good because it meant that if something were to happen to Sasuke and Naruto, at least no one they knew would get in the way and get hurt too. On the other hand, they had no one there that they could try and enlist help from.

"This is getting freaky," Naruto said as they slid into a little booth in the back. Thankfully no one at the cafe was too picky about people not ordering right away, else they might have been asked to leave. "We can't just keep running from them. We need to find a place where we're safe," Naruto said thoughtfully.

Sasuke's mind whirled.

"We need to go to the hospital where you were checked out when the trolls hurt you the first time. There was a man there, a doctor, that knew about the trolls. He could help us."

"Why didn't you think of him sooner?" Naruto asked.

"My memories aren't perfect yet either," Sasuke retorted back.

"Oh, right."

The look of sheepish apology that crossed over Naruto's features made Sasuke want to apologize. He really had been snapping at Naruto a lot more. It wasn't like him to snap at Naruto like that. His emotionless and his snappish nature were usually reserved for everyone else but Naruto.

"Good morning."

Sasuke and Naruto turned to look at a man with long white hair standing at their table. At first glance, Sasuke wanted to call the man old, but his shocking white hair seemed to contrast to his young features. He wore sunglasses over his eyes, and a relaxed smile on his face. His greeting had made Sasuke think he was a waiter, but the shine of the black leather jacket, and the starched white pants told him that this man was definitely not a waiter.

Despite his relaxed smile, and the smooth tone of his voice, Sasuke felt a sudden urge to grab Naruto and run for the hills.

"Do you mind if I join you?"

"We were just going to leave," Naruto said, and Sasuke was grateful that Naruto too seemed to sense the weirdness of the sudden appearance of the stranger.

"Why, Naruto-kun, I think this would be a nice place for us to sit and chat, don't you think, little one?"

Sasuke's adrenaline kicked in, and instead of being fearful of the man in front of him, he went on alert, wanting to protect Naruto.

"Back away," Sasuke murmured quietly, deadly.

It felt like something awoke inside Sasuke at that moment. A flaring burst of energy swept through him, a sort of freezing flame. He could feel it fill him, wrap around him, filling him with a heat the he felt practically pouring out of him.

"No need to raise your aura around yourself. I mean you no harm," the man spoke quietly. He lifted his hands in the air, making a gesture as to show he was unarmed.

If he had meant to show he was unarmed, his long nails detracted from the sentiment. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the long, pointed nails on his hands, and for a moment he thought the man might be a troll. He had dark sunglasses over his eyes, perhaps to hide the way they glowed like the trolls did…?

But no, sunlight was hitting him from one of the windows, so he wasn't a troll.

But Sasuke was also pretty sure he wasn't human.

"Let me sit and talk with you gentlemen," he said quietly, his voice deep, amused in a dark sort of way.

"What do you want?" Naruto asked his eyes narrowed.

The feeling of power that had built up around Sasuke at his sudden burst of anger didn't fade after the initial burst, and Naruto's voice seemed to affect the power he felt suddenly swirling within him. The power seemed to grow steadier, as if a dam had burst, a fresh surging of power at once, but instead of thinning out, a continuous source of energy flowed through him.

He felt neither weak nor tired anymore, and even more amazingly, he felt as though he could feel things on an entirely different level. For instance, Naruto's words seemed to hold a power to them. Sasuke looked at Naruto, and for a moment, he could have sworn that Naruto was glowing. Looking closer, he realized that he wasn't glowing at all, but Sasuke was able to feel a sort of pulse from his friend. It was like the rush of energy that surrounded him had allowed him to see the steady wave of power flowing off of Naruto.

Sasuke finally understood what his mother was talking about when she said that Naruto was now going to be difficult to hide. If Sasuke could see this glowing aura around Naruto with just a sudden flux of untrained power washing over him, what could powerfully trained beings see that he couldn't?

"I want to speak with you," the man said, and his voice was calm, quiet. "May I sit down?"

"You sent the trolls after us," Naruto accused, and the man's attitude went cold. Sasuke felt a power similar to Naruto's well up around the stranger in front of them.

"Don't ever associate me with those monsters again," he snarled.

For some reason, even if Sasuke didn't instinctively like this white haired man, he couldn't help but feel grateful that the stranger saw the trolls as monsters as well.

"Then what do you want, and why the creepy phone call?" Sasuke asked, pressing his hands on the table. He was sure now that this man's voice was the same as the voice on the phone. Neither Sasuke nor Naruto made a move to let the guy sit, and in a strange way, it helped make Sasuke feel powerful.

"I needed to get you out of the school before the trolls got inside, naturally. I'm not the only one after you. I didn't think you would trust me if I said you needed to leave as soon as possible. I thought a little intimidation might help save you," the man said, his voice icy. "You're welcome."

Naruto and Sasuke didn't bother to thank him.

"Who are you?"

The man raised an eyebrow. "You don't remember me, Naruto-kun?"

That comment didn't sit well with Sasuke, and by the look on Naruto's face, it didn't sit well with him either.

"Obviously not. And you brought up a good point. Why should we trust you?" Sasuke snapped. The man turned his head slowly to look at Sasuke. He rested his long fingers on the table and let those long nails tap in irritation. For a moment, Sasuke feared that the man would lash out and claw at Sasuke's eyes. If Sasuke could see the man's eyes, he had a strange feeling that he'd see hatred directed at him. Sasuke honestly expected the man to try and hurt him. Instead, he seemed to seize up Sasuke and his question.

"I am known by many names and many titles. You may call me Uncle." Sasuke noticed that the man hadn't answered his question as to why they should trust him.

"That's a very strange statement, coming from you." Sasuke and Naruto's heads turned to see another man standing there. He seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

This man's hair was the same shocking white as the man with the long fingernails, but the newcomer was broader in the shoulder, and taller than the first man. He didn't wear any sunglasses, and his eyes seemed crinkled in a happy smile.

"It's been some time, Jiraiya," the first man spoke, his voice heavy as though tired from their conversation which hadn't even started yet.

"And here I thought you were dead, Kyuubi."

Naruto and Sasuke exchanged looks, feeling at a loss. Jiraiya's attention was distracted from the man he had just called Kyuubi, and he gave a hearty wave to Naruto.

"Yo! Naruto! Haven't seen you since you were this big!" Jiraiya said, his eyes scrunched up and made a small measurement with his hands. "You probably don't remember me, but I'm your godfather."

Sasuke and Naruto exchanged incredulous looks this time. Uncle? Godfather?

"So, kid, we need to get outta here before trouble shows up," Jiraiya said, his face cheery, but there was a sense of urgency and resonance behind his cheery facade.

"Then he ought to come with me, don't you think?" the man called Kyuubi said to Jiraiya.

"I don't know what rock you've been hiding under for the past eighteen years, but now is not the time to collect on debts that he knows nothing about."

"Will the two of you stop talking about me as though I'm not here? And won't you even acknowledge Sasuke!" Naruto said, his voice rising. At this point, the few occupants in the cafe were starting to turn and look at them. The others in the cafe were definitely paying attention to them. Sasuke and Naruto, who were clearly high school students, sitting at a table while two strange men with blazingly white hair standing at their table was not a normal sight to behold.

"Hi Sasuke," Jiraiya said, nodding to him to recognize him as Naruto had requested. "We need to get moving before the shit hits the fan."

For some reason, of the two people, Sasuke had a feeling he would rather go with Jiraiya than go with the man who wanted to be called Uncle.

"They need to come with me. _Both_ of them, from what I can tell," Kyuubi stated.

"It's suicide."

"Can't we all go together?" Naruto said, and Sasuke nearly snorted. Leave it to Naruto to try and find a compromise in a situation like this.

"No," Jiraiya and Kyuubi stated simultaneously.

"Then I'm not going anywhere," Naruto said firmly, crossing his arms across his chest.

"I'll drag you out of here myself," Kyuubi snarled. And it was literally a snarl. It didn't sound like any human noise that Sasuke had ever heard before.

"No you won't," Jiraiya said, his voice a deadly lull.

Sasuke looked back and forth between Jiraiya and Kyuubi. The two white-haired men looked like they were about ready to start a fight in the middle of the cafe. He wasn't the only one to think so. One of the cafe waiters was on his way over, a tentative look on his face as though not wanting to get into the middle of things but not wanting a fight to breakout.

"Let's go Sasuke," Naruto said, standing up quickly, grabbing Sasuke's wrist, and pulling him out of the cafe before either of the two men could protest.

Sasuke didn't bother to look behind them as they exited the shop and crossed the road, but he could practically feel the eyes of the two men as they made their way across the street, heading away from the cafe as fast as possible.

"What the hell are we supposed to do now?" Naruto asked, his pace quickening as he chanced a glance behind him. Sasuke did the same and was a little apprehensive to see that he couldn't see either man behind them.

"I already told you," Sasuke and Naruto stopped, as the white haired man appeared in front of them, "you need to come with me. Now."

* * *

Life would be easier if it had music to go along with it to announce the difference between the good guys and the bad guys. ~ Jelp

* * *

**Next Chapter: Tails of Old**

And yes, I purposefully spelled it tails instead of tales. :D

Sorry updates have been taking long. I don't think I can promise an update in two weeks, but I will do my best. I will update on Fridays so you have an idea of when to look for a new chapter. (If I update in two weeks, it will be the day before my birthday, yay!)

What did you think of this chapter? ~ Jelp


	9. Chapter 9: Tails of Old

Special thanks to Master of the Rebels for betaing this for me, and to lexjamandme/michelerene for going over things for me. As always, I don't own Naruto, and this story is dedicated to the wonderful Hina88.

**Afraid of the Dark**

**Chapter 9: Tails of Old**

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_"...So do we pass the ghosts that haunt us later in our lives; they sit undramatically [sic] by the roadside like poor beggars, and we see them only from the corners of our eyes, if we see them at all. The idea that they have been waiting there for us rarely if ever crosses our minds. Yet they do wait, and when we have passed, they gather up their bundles of memory and fall in behind, treading in our footsteps and catching up, little by little." - Stephen King_

* * *

"What the hell are we supposed to do now?" Naruto asked, his pace quickening while he chanced a glance behind him. Sasuke did the same and was a little apprehensive to see that he couldn't see either man behind them.

"I already told you," Sasuke and Naruto stopped, as the white-haired man appeared in front of them, "you need to come with me. Now."

Sasuke stared at the man that had asked Naruto to call him "uncle:" the one that the other white-haired man, Jiraiya, had called Kyuubi.

Kyuubi.

Nine-tails.

Sasuke's eyes widened as he remembered his mother's voice clearly ringing in his mind. It was a shock of memory, as though his mother stood before him saying the words over again, as though her voice had made sure to imprint the words into his memory.

_"...Finally, with a bit of luck, one of the fire fairy tribes managed to capture a hulijing, an immortal fox spirit with nine-tails. He was even older and wiser than Daji had been at the height of her power._

_"The tribe killed the hulijing's only child, and told him that Xiao Gang had been the killer._

_"Now this fairy tribe was very intelligent, but they lacked key information that resulted in their plan backfiring on them. The hulijing, being an old and intelligent fox, even if he was quick to anger, was able to recognize Xiao Gang as a kindred spirit. The hulijing was shocked when he realized that Xiao Gang was also partially a fox spirit. Due to this, the hulijing knew Xiao Gang would not have willingly killed another fox spirit._

_"Still, the hulijing was heartbroken at the loss of his beloved child. He was over five thousand years old, and his mate had died nearly one hundred years before. After reaching five thousand, the old fox was no longer able to produce any fox children of his own, even if he were to take a human mate. Since the hulijing was old and bitterly lonely due to the loss of his son, he made a deal with Xiao Gang. The hulijing promised that he would not hurt Xiao Gang or any of his followers if Xiao Gang promised to give the hulijing his first-born child."_

Before them stood the very same nine-tailed fox from his mother's story. Sasuke was sure of it.

And the hulijing wanted Naruto. Even Jiraiya had hinted at that part:

_"I don't know what rock you've been hiding under for the past eighteen years, but now is not the time to collect on debts that he knows nothing about."_

Eighteen years ago, on the night of Naruto's birth, Naruto's father and the hulijing, the immortal fox had fought. They'd been presumed dead. Now, standing in front of them stood one of the two men. If it had been Naruto's father, that would have been wonderful. But as it stood, the man was not Naruto's father. He would have stated so. He was the nine-tail fox, and he wanted Naruto because of some sort of promise Naruto's father had made.

Sasuke wouldn't allow Kyuubi to take Naruto.

Sasuke's mom had known that Kyuubi, if alive, would come for Naruto. That's why she had told them that story. He idly wondered if she had the ability to make a memory stick out prominently, just like she could "erase" them.

Whatever happened, Sasuke didn't want Naruto to go with this man. He had a feeling his mother wouldn't want Naruto to go with him either which was why she gave them the indirect warning.

"Naruto is not yours to take," Sasuke said. He gripped Naruto's wrist. Naruto turned his head to frown at Sasuke.

"What are-" Naruto began.

"He's the hulijing that made that bargain to take your father's first born. That's _you_."

Naruto made a surprised face before turning back to look at Kyuubi.

"Wait, wait. The nine tail fox?" Naruto paused, but before Kyuubi could respond Naruto said something that made Sasuke want to groan. "I thought you'd have red hair, like a fox."

Naruto had a knack for noticing things and pointing them out at inopportune moments.

"My hair was red, but I am no longer Kyuubi no Kashikoi, and I therefore no longer have red hair," he stated.

"Kyuubi no Kashikoi? Kyuubi the wise? What's wrong with just Kyuubi?" Naruto repeated, questioningly.

"My son was also named Kyuubi. He was Kyuubi no Youko because sadly, he was…violent. Still, he was my son."

"But why aren't you 'Kyuubi' anymore?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto," Sasuke hissed. "Stop talking to him! We need to leave." Sasuke grabbed Naruto's wrist and jerked his friend, but Naruto tugged back against him, looking resolute.

"But why aren't you 'Kyuubi' anymore?" Naruto asked again, overly determined and stubborn to find out.

"So it's true then," Jiraiya said, his voice coming from behind them.

Sasuke didn't bother glancing behind him to look at Jiraiya. He could see him out of the corner of his eye. Instead, he kept his gaze on Kyuubi, having a strong feeling that the man in front of him was much more dangerous than Jiraiya. Or rather, the man in front of them was more dangerous to them. He wasn't sure of either man's abilities, but Sasuke got the distinct impression that going with Kyuubi the wise – or whatever his name was – would be a bad idea.

"What's true?" Naruto asked.

"The number of your tails-"

"Is not your concern," the man growled.

"Actually it is. But a lesser concern. We need to get these two boys somewhere else. From what I heard of your little conversation in the cafe, there were trolls after them. The daylight may save them from the trolls, but it won't save them from the trolls' masters."

"I know that better than most. This boy needs to come with me for his safety. _Now_," the man demanded, his voice coming out in a low resonance, his words sounding like the rumble of a dangerous wolf rather than the yelp of a fox.

"I'd forgotten how different you were from your son. He was ruthless, and bloodthirsty. I know that you felt that if you had not been captured by the fire fairies that you would have been able to save your son's life. But after all, you were captured for his crimes. He would have died anyway."

Sasuke blinked, remembering his mother's words. His mother had said that they had captured the hulijing and then killed his only son. But hadn't she meant capture the hulijing's son to lure the older hulijing? Her words had confused him. Surely if the hulijing had been captured by the fire fairies he would have known they meant him harm and have realized that they were the ones who had killed his son. Right?

Something was off with someone's version of events, but Sasuke decided to push that piece of information to the back of his mind to analyze later.

"Your son, Kyuubi no Youko deserved death for his crimes. You should not seek revenge when his death was in retaliation for the lives he took."

"Why was your son's name Kyuubi too?" Naruto asked.

The white haired hulijing closed his eyes. The pain that crossed his face made Naruto wince, realizing too late it must be difficult for him to speak of his dead son.

"Kyuubi is a description of the amount of tails we have. Kyuubi no Youko was the name people called my son. They called him Kyuubi no Youko, Demon Fox, because he went mad."

Sasuke watched Naruto's face. He could tell that Naruto wanted to ask why his son had gone mad, but he refrained. Maybe the pain in the man's eyes stopped Naruto. If Sasuke were more curious, he would have asked instead as he felt no qualms about causing the man in front of them pain. As it was, he just wanted to get away from Kyuubi.

"Who are you to Naruto?" Sasuke demanded, instead turning to Jiraiya. He didn't want to go with either one of them, but this man seemed the lesser of two evils. Of course he wanted to make sure of that before he risked his and Naruto's lives.

"I'm Naruto's godfather," Jiraiya said, sticking out his chest proudly, as though that was all the further explanation that was needed.

"And do you have some other funny names too, like he does?" Naruto asked curiously. Sasuke thought it was a rather stupid question to ask, once again Naruto showing his tendency to point out things and ask questions at inopportune moments, but when Jiraiya answered, he was begrudgingly grateful that Naruto had asked it.

"Jiang Ziya."

Jiang Ziya - the sage that had befriended Naruto's father, taking him under his wing like a son. Yes, the choice was easy.

"We're going with you," Naruto said, coming to the same conclusion that Sasuke had.

"Smart kid," Jiraiya said, grinning.

"No! You can't have him. He's mine!"

"Says you, Kyuubi. This is not the time or place to battle it out," Jiraiya said, waving a hand around to sweep in the scene around them. People had stopped to stare at them. They all turned and returned to what they were doing once they had been noticed staring.

Kyuubi flushed.

"You cannot help him. You don't know how a hulijing needs to be trained!"

"Can't we all just go together, or something? We all hate the trolls, right? So if we're all enemies against the trolls then that makes us allies, right?" Naruto said logically.

Sasuke looked at Naruto. It was obvious he was trying to find a solution to this mess they were in, but Sasuke didn't like the idea of Kyuubi anywhere near Naruto. He didn't trust him. He didn't really trust Jiraiya all that much either, godfather or not, but he didn't give Sasuke a bad feeling like Kyuubi did.

"No," Sasuke and Jiraiya said at once. Kyuubi didn't seem phased by their reaction.

"He needs to come with me," Kyuubi said. "He's mine to take care of."

"Naruto doesn't want to go with you," Sasuke snapped.

"You are not his mouth piece, little fairy _boy_." Sasuke bristled at the statement, and all but snarled at Kyuubi. "Naruto can speak for himself as can all of us hulijing."

Sasuke turned to look at Naruto, waiting for him to say that he didn't want to go with Kyuubi. But to his surprise, it looked like Naruto was actually considering the idea.

"Naruto?" Sasuke questioned, his eyes wide.

"Well, I mean, I am part hulijing. Maybe I would learn better with-"

"No," Sasuke snapped. "You can't be serious."

Naruto stuck his chin up.

"Why not? I could learn what happened to my father," Naruto said.

"He could hurt you!"

"He could have done that already."

"You idiot, this is absurd!"

"Come on Sasuke, you gotta think about everything. A five-thousand-year-old immortal fox versus some fairies. I think he would be safer, right?"

"Did you listen to what Mom said?"

"True, but-"

Jiraiya and Kyuubi looked back and forth between Sasuke and Naruto, bemused by their bickering.

"Naruto, we need to go with Jiraiya."

Naruto opened his mouth to argue back when a cry of pain split the air. Sasuke whipped around in time to watch Kyuubi's mouth open in pain before his hand came up to clutch at his chest before crumpling to the ground. Sasuke looked down, mortified, to see a knife sticking out of Kyuubi's chest. For a moment, he thought Jiraiya must have done something to him, but then he saw people pointing and screaming to a car that had slammed on its brakes across the street.

Sasuke looked at the car to see a man with horrible scars over his face beckoning them over.

With a jolt, Sasuke remembered the doctor he had spoken with in the hospital, the man who had first told him about "monsters" all those years prior.

"Get in!" Dr. Ibiki hollered.

"Who the hell-" Naruto began, but Sasuke grabbed his wrist and all but dragged Naruto across the street to the car.

"Get in!" Sasuke said without waiting for Naruto to comply by forcibly shoving him into the backseat of the car. Sasuke saw Jiraiya get into the front seat before Dr. Ibiki began driving like a maniac away from where a crowd had started to form around Kyuubi's fallen body.

"Let go of me Sasuke! What the hell do you think you're doing?! Why are you shoving me in a car of a stranger that killed the guy we were talking to?!" Naruto screeched.

"Shut-up and just _trust me._"

"You-!" But Sasuke just clasped his hand over Naruto's mouth until Naruto licked Sasuke's hand. Sasuke pulled it away with a grimace on his face.

"Disgusting," Sasuke chided him while Naruto glared at him angrily.

"Ibiki! Long time no see! Great timing for a reunion!" Jiraiya hollered over the squealing tires and awkward tension in the back seat as Ibiki swerved down back streets before finally going the speed limit as he hit the entrance ramp to the closest highway.

"I had no idea you were going to be here. I thought you had dropped off the face of the earth for the past eighteen years," Dr. Ibiki said, amused.

"Nah. I'm too important to go out without a bang. If you didn't hear from me, it was because I didn't want anyone to find me."

"You really are an old hermit," Ibiki said with another chuckle.

"Will someone tell me what the fuck is going on?" Naruto demanded furiously. "And why did you just throw a knife at Kyuubi? How can we trust you? I mean, you could kill us! Are you insane, Sasuke? What were you thinking dragging me into a stranger's car?" Naruto demanded.

"I'm Ibiki," Ibiki introduced himself to both Naruto and Sasuke. Sasuke ignored Naruto's look of fury and nodded at Ibiki in the rearview mirror.

"I've just recently remembered you," Sasuke said, and was surprised to hear Ibiki give a low chuckle.

"So I've heard."

"How do you know him?" Naruto asked Sasuke incredulously, but before he had even given Sasuke time to answer him, he turned back toward Ibiki, "and how is giving me your name a way of explaining what's going on and why I should trust you?"

"Dr. Ibiki was the doctor who had to "evaluate" me after the first day we met. I had to meet with him, and he knew about the trolls that we kept calling monsters. He gave me advice to stay close to you, but it was one of those memories that..." Sasuke trailed off.

"Oh..." Naruto said in understanding, not needing Sasuke to explain that Ibiki was part of the memories that had been pushed to the back of his mind. "Still! You didn't have to stab the guy!"

"Considering that he will heal fine in a matter of minutes, and now he won't chase after us, it makes things easier," Ibiki explained. Naruto glared but looked at Sasuke's calmness and seemed reassured.

"Ah! So you guys know each other and no one died. That makes things easier," Jiraiya said brightly, stretching his arms over his head and giving a shake of his shaggy white hair.

Sasuke thought the large man looked strangely out of place in the front seat of the car. He looked like he would fit in better at a historical museum than with them. He didn't spend too long musing over this thought though. Naruto looked ready to blow a gasket if someone didn't explain something soon. Sasuke gave a little more detail of what he remembered of the first time he had met Ibiki, telling him that Ibiki had told him not to tell anyone else about the trolls.

Vaguely, Sasuke remembered that Ibiki had said that as long as he stayed close to Naruto that no more trolls would come after them. He'd clearly been wrong.

After Sasuke had filled Naruto up to speed on whom Ibiki was, and what he remembered from their conversation when they'd first met, Sasuke started glancing behind him in the car. Even though they were now on a prominent highway, he couldn't shake the feeling that someone might try and follow them. After all, such a violent getaway from their location wouldn't go unnoticed.

"Not that I'm complaining that you came to our aid, but how did you know we needed help, especially since you said you didn't even know I was alive?" Jiraiya asked curiously.

"Personally I'd rather know where we're going," Sasuke interrupted.

"Someplace safe," Ibiki half-answered mysteriously.

Sasuke gritted his teeth. He hated not being in control of a situation, but since the circumstances were so bizarre, and he honestly didn't have any idea of what to do, he decided to let them bicker it out. Sasuke stared intently at the back of Ibiki's seat, willing him to explain how they had known where they were going. Ibiki gave Sasuke a glance in the rearview mirror, and Sasuke narrowed his eyes, wondering if Ibiki was annoyed from his question.

Glancing at the road before quickly looking back at Sasuke, Ibiki spoke his next words while watching Sasuke in the mirror.

"I received a call from your older brother stating the two of you might be in trouble," Ibiki said, his eyes glancing at the road for a bit before meeting Sasuke's gaze briefly once more in the mirror.

"What? Itachi called you?" Naruto demanded. "Why does everyone know this guy but me?" Naruto muttered, before he asked loudly "Is he okay? Where is he? Where are Uncle Fugaku and Aunt Mikoto?"

"Uchiha Mikoto and Uchiha Itachi are both fairly injured, but currently safe as per my last conversation with Itachi."

"What? Itachi got injured too? How?" Naruto asked worriedly while Sasuke's body went tense, a coldness filling his insides.

"What about my father?"

Ibiki paused before answering, not bothering to look back at Sasuke.

"Your father is missing."

For half a horrible heartbeat, Sasuke thought Ibiki was going to say his father was dead. Still, "missing" didn't ease his worry much.

"Interesting," Jiraiya murmured thoughtfully.

"He wasn't working with them, but he wasn't really doing anything to deter them. Obviously Itachi's actions showed that he realized the threat was greater than Mikoto or Fugaku did. It seems that while no harm was meant, Fugaku refused to associate with former enemies of the fire fairy clan he belonged to and therefore fled."

"What? Who was or rather wasn't he working with? And why would he flee?" Sasuke asked. Ibiki glanced from Sasuke to Naruto into the rearview mirror.

"Your father, as you may or may not know, was one of the fire fairies involved with the kidnapping of Kyuubi no Youko. According to Mikoto, he believed that there was a chance that Kyuubi no Youko's father, Kyuubi no Kashikoi, would come after Naruto. Itachi briefly stated that you two were sharing the same bedroom, and that your father told Naruto he needed to have his own room. He believed it was possible that Kyuubi no Kashikoi might come after Naruto. You see, Naruto, your father promised to give his first-"

"Yeah, we know. He told Kyuubi no Kashikoi that he could have his first born because he thought he would never have kids," Naruto explained.

"Yes. But there's more to it than that. Sasuke's father thought that there was a slight chance that Kyuubi might come looking for you on your eighteenth birthday, Naruto. In case that happened, according to Itachi, the only really protective measure he took was to separate you and Sasuke into different bedrooms."

"Are you saying my father was separating us to protect me, and not Naruto? I don't believe it," Sasuke asked incredulous.

"Me neither!" Naruto agreed.

"You misunderstand me. No, he separated the two of you to protect you both. If you two shared the same room, it is possible that Kyuubi might have taken both of you. If you were not sharing a room and he only took Naruto, Sasuke would be able to find him," Ibiki explained.

"I don't know what you're talking about. We haven't been trained or anything, so how would Sasuke be able to find me?" Naruto wondered.

"I have to say I'm not following how that's possible either," Jiraiya confessed. Sasuke felt the same way, but kept quiet, waiting for Ibiki to speak.

"Itachi will explain it to them. He took a very important memory about it away, or so he told me."

"What memory?" Naruto asked.

"He said it had something to do with what happened between the two of you and a black light."

* * *

_"It's always disturbing when someone else knows a secret so important that the truth is life changing." ~ Jelp_

* * *

**Next Chapter: The Black Light**

Yes, it's been ages. I apologize for the late update while I simultaneously must sadly say updates (while they will occur) will be less frequent. ~ Jelp


	10. Chapter 10: The Black Light

Thanks to Master of the Rebels for betaing this for me! Hope you all enjoy the chapter.

**Afraid of the Dark**

**Chapter 10: The Black Light**

* * *

_"...A belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness."_

_-Under Western Eyes (Joseph Conrad)_

* * *

It had been hours since they had started driving. They'd stopped twice for food and a bathroom break but otherwise had been on the road almost the entire day. Therefore Sasuke wasn't overly surprised when he could see the ocean off in the distance. As they passed through a fairly decent sized city, Sasuke noticed the ever increasing seediness of the buildings as they neared the bayside.

Sasuke's eyes darted past boarded up houses as they approached the waterfront of the city, large ships looming up over the buildings in the distance.

It was just before nightfall when they had finally arrived at their final destination, and Sasuke looked around the area slightly nervous, imagining the hordes of trolls that could have followed them. He hoped that those things had lost their trail and that these fairies had ample protection against such attacks. It didn't help that the area looked like it lacked electricity.

Ibiki parked the car in a run-down, dodgy parking lot located right across from a deserted looking warehouse almost right on the waterfront. Sasuke raised his eyebrows at their cliché setting.

"This isn't obvious for a hiding spot at all," Naruto murmured, sharing the same mindset as Sasuke.

"It's the stereotypical aspect that makes the obvious so concealable," Ibiki said mystically.

"I have to take a long piss," Jiraiya stated, looking around. Sasuke gave Jiraiya a distasteful look while silently agreeing with him.

"I have to pee all of a sudden too," Naruto shared. "Is that, like, a spell that you guys use to make it so that people don't want to come here?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Not that I am aware of," Ibiki said, looking at Naruto strangely. "It's most likely the fact that you have been sitting in a car for some time and the adjustment of standing has added weight to your bladder, increasing the urgency of the necessity to use the restroom."

"Oh," Naruto said, blushing slightly.

Sasuke turned his face to the side so that Naruto wouldn't see the blush on his face as well; he'd actually wondered the same thing.

"We have, however, put up numerous wards which are types of spells that will protect this place. The trolls will not be able to find their way here."

"That's good to know," Sasuke murmured. "You said my brother and mother are here?" Sasuke pressed. Ibiki nodded his head but didn't delve into further details.

Sasuke watched the dimming sunlight fade off somewhere behind him, grateful when the rundown looking street lights illuminated the dingy parking lots, showing off the plant life that was coming up through the cracks in the lots' pavement.

As they neared the warehouse entrance, Sasuke and Naruto both began to cough as a disgusting scent filled the air – a cross between fecal matter, ash, vomit, extremely bad body odor, and something rotting that smelt like it had died weeks ago.

Sasuke began to gag, thinking he himself would throw-up from the smell alone.

Naruto coughed through the hand he'd placed over his mouth, his eyes watering.

"That smell _is_ a defensive spell," Ibiki said as he lightly made a series of strange looking hand motions before touching both Naruto and Sasuke's shoulders. The smell vanished instantly.

Jiraiya appeared to either be able to fend off the smell himself, or was one of those guys whose oratory senses didn't mind such horrible smells.

As he had lived for thousands of years, Sasuke was sure the man had lived through a time when such horrible smells were the norm.

"Haven't smelled anything so disgusting since the middle of the fourteenth century," Jiraiya stated conversationally, though his light tone hid something darker. "Smells like the bubonic plague."

"Good nose. If you don't have the right spell to ward it off, you get symptoms that recreate the effects of the plague as well."

"Nothing like a bit of germ warfare to keep the enemy out," Jiraiya said cheerfully.

Sasuke and Naruto shared a look.

What had they gotten themselves into?

"It's just for people who are persistent of course," Ibiki clarified, noticing the dubious look between the two younger men. "We don't harm any humans."

Any _humans_. Sasuke and Naruto shared another look. They had just recently found out that they were fairies, or in Naruto's case, part fairy.

It was strange to not be in the same category as humans anymore.

Then again, Naruto was part human. His paternal grandfather had been a Chinese Prince according to Sasuke's mom's story.

Naruto was human even if just partially. Sasuke wasn't.

Another part of his mother's story came to mind, making Sasuke think. Sasuke's mom had said that part of the reason that Naruto's mother had been drawn to Naruto's father was because Minato was part human. If his memory served him correctly, muse fairies were apparently, "quite partial to attractive human males."

Sasuke looked ahead of him trying to will the questions from his mind. Was that why he and Naruto had gotten...intimate? Was it because muse fairies were attracted to human males? Did it matter that he was a male himself?

The thought left him as soon as it came. It was stupid. He was just being paranoid. It had to do with the black light. It just had some weird affect on fairies; that was all. And Itachi would explain to them more about what happened.

Sasuke willed his face not to blush just thinking about how his _brother_ would be the one who explained to them what had transpired between them on Sasuke's birthday. Talk about awkward as hell. Yet Itachi would have answers as to why it happened – and answers on how to prevent something like that from ever happening again.

"Is there a secret knock or something too?" Naruto asked as they reached the door. Ibiki grinned.

"Just a security code," Ibiki said as he lifted a side panel box that Sasuke hadn't noticed on first inspection. When the panel covering the keypad dropped down, he noticed the keys had pictures of hands in different positions instead of numbers. Ibiki pushed in several of them, too fast for Sasuke to follow and with an ease that suggested he did this quite frequently.

There was a slight beep that Sasuke hoped indicated that Ibiki had entered the code correctly before the doctor turned the handle and gestured for Sasuke, Naruto, and Jiraiya to go in. Sasuke raised an eyebrow as he looked through the doorway only to see virtual darkness; not even the dim light from the parking lot lamps seemed to be able to penetrate inside.

Jiraiya took the lead, followed by Naruto, reluctantly then by Sasuke, with Ibiki coming in last, the door shutting ominously behind them.

"Whoa," Naruto noted. As soon as the door had closed, lights flared up, stunning Sasuke slightly as the darkness had initially consumed his eyesight. There was a hustle and bustle of activity as though they had been thrust into a market street in the middle of day.

On closer inspection, they _were_ in the middle of a marketplace. When Sasuke looked behind him, there was no sign of a building, let alone a door anywhere behind them.

"Where the hell are we?" Sasuke demanded at the same time Naruto asked, "Are we outside?"

Ibiki smirked.

"Welcome to one of the hidden villages of fairy."

"Hidden village?" Sasuke asked.

"Of course," Jiraiya boomed, "you honestly think that we fairies just clump into the same area as normal humans?"

"Yeah. We did," Naruto said, crossing his arms. "And...I think my mom and I did before our house was housenapped. Or, whatever it was," Naruto said thoughtfully.

"Housenapped," Ibiki repeated, slightly amused as he turned to look at Sasuke. "I remember when you told me that the first day we met-"

"Where are we exactly, and where is my family?" Sasuke demanded. Ibiki lost all traces of amusement, and at first Sasuke thought that Ibiki was going to refuse him answers due to his rudeness.

"This, as I mentioned, is a hidden village. This is the Hidden Village of Minato. It was created in honor of – or memory of – your father, Naruto. We started this village after the great fight between your father and Kyuubi destroyed a good deal of forest near our last hidden village. Fairies live off of the land around them, and we no longer had the resources we needed."

Sasuke's mind reeled. It was hard to wrap his mind around how Naruto's father and the man that had tried to come after them, the man that Ibiki had seemed to have so easily stabbed, could possibly have caused enough chaos for so many people to uproot and start anew.

"It's also a pun of sorts, isn't it? The entrance is so close to that port in the human realm. Get it, Minato means port?" Jiraiya asked, looking at Sasuke. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him. "You, kid, have a stiff sense of humor," Jiraiya noted of Sasuke.

"Yeah he does," Naruto grinned at Sasuke.

"How can there be a village in the middle of the day located inside a warehouse?" Sasuke wondered, meanwhile glaring at Naruto. Naruto oh-so-maturely stuck his tongue back at him in response.

"Magic, duh," Naruto said and rolled his eyes.

"You don't seem like the type to be into fairy lore," Ibiki noted, amused by the interaction between the two young fairies.

"Do I look like I'd be a fucking fairy type of person?" Sasuke asked, crossing his arms. Naruto coughed.

"Sasuke, you are a fairy-type person, if you think about it," Naruto pointed out.

"I meant, do I look like I'd be into all that frilly-fairy crap," Sasuke snapped.

"Traditional fairy-lore that humans know about is based off of some truth and myth. This is a bit of both. In traditional fairy-lore, there is a separate realm for the fair folk of fairy. Haven't you ever heard of the word fairyland?"

"Fairyland! I've heard that before. Wait, so, this is fairyland? Like, it's real? I get it now!" Naruto said happily.

"Fairies live where humans can't wander. This-" Ibiki began.

"You know what, I'm sorry I asked. It sounds complex, and while I'm sure it's fascinating, I think I will stick with Naruto's version of: it's magic. Where's my family?"

"You have a one track mind, but understandably so. I'm sure you're anxious to see them," Ibiki noted.

"Yeah. We left Auntie Mikoto with the trolls," Naruto said ashamed. "We really should see them. I feel like an ass, half forgetting about them," Naruto said. "Lead on!" Naruto enthused, pumping his fist.

Even though they seemed to have appeared in the middle of a crowded street, no one seemed to have noticed that they had appeared out of nowhere. Either that or it was normal for people to appear from thin air.

However, many people did seem to recognize Jiraiya. Many came up to him, asking him how he was and where he had been, only to have him wave them off. Sasuke and Naruto walked behind him and Ibiki, and it seemed that no one noticed them. Still, more and more people kept crowding around Jiraiya until he finally made a promise to meet back up with them shortly. The crowd of people that seemed to have suddenly appeared around him no longer hindered their progress.

Sasuke had the distinct impression that Jiraiya was using his presence to draw the attention away from Naruto. Now that they were in this hidden village, it felt as though Sasuke was hypersensitive to Naruto's presence.

It felt like Naruto glowed beside Sasuke, and it was almost overwhelming to stand next to his best friend. He didn't understand how so many trained fairies didn't notice Naruto.

Ibiki led them along a road to a tall building marked as a hospital. The fairy doctors here looked perfectly normal to Sasuke – until he saw the doctors' hands glowing while they healed their patients.

It reminded him about what he and Naruto could do to each other. Maybe they were healer-type fairies? Was there such a thing?

Ibiki nodded to a few of the people as they walked down the hospital's hallways. Jiraiya seemed to reappear out of nowhere, and it was only the thought that perhaps magic helped him get there so quickly that explained his sudden appearance. Ibiki nodded to him as they walked further down the hallway before stopping in front of a room.

"I'll let you two speak to them alone. Jiraiya, I'd like to speak to you privately," Ibiki said.

"I figured as much," Jiraiya said. Sasuke didn't wait to see if the two older men would wait there or head off before all but bursting into the room, Naruto right on his heels.

Itachi sat in a chair, his arm in a sling as he sat next to his mother's bed.

Mikoto was propped up, but she looked sickly and had bandages covering her torso and arms. Gauze covered her forehead and cheeks, and Sasuke could see a gash across her nose.

"Mom, Itachi?" Sasuke asked tentatively.

"It looks a lot worse than it is, sweetie," Mikoto said soothingly, but even her voice sounded weak, and it did nothing to reassure Sasuke.

"What-what happened?" Naruto asked.

"The trolls got to her before we got there, father and I that is," Itachi explained.

Unfortunately, Sasuke could now vividly remember seeing the claw marks and damage the trolls inflicted upon Naruto the first night they met, knowing those bandages hid many scars beneath them. The trolls had gotten her, and gotten her badly.

"You knew something was going on?" Sasuke asked of Itachi, having trouble looking at his mother so damaged.

"Your father had made sure to cast a spell on the house that if something attacked it, he would be able to feel what it was. He and Itachi returned as fast as they could. Don't you remember I told you that your father was on his way?"

Sasuke wanted to say that it was too little too late as they hadn't gotten there in time to help. Not to mention his mom had made it seem like only his dad was going to appear after admitting Itachi to a mental hospital.

"Where were you then, and where is he now?" Sasuke asked Itachi. "Is he ok-"

"He's fine," Itachi clipped. "We will speak about it later."

"Your arm – are you – " Naruto began.

"Later. Mother needs to rest now. I need to talk to you both first."

Sasuke looked at his mother, his heart aching just looking at the state she was in.

"I..." There was so much he wanted to say. Thank you. I'm sorry. And demand more answers. Demand to know why they hadn't told them enough so they could have prevented something like this. He felt like Naruto had to run for his life, and where Naruto went, Sasuke would go too. His whole family was in danger now, and his mother looked so hurt. She shouldn't be laying there so helpless looking. Why had their lives gotten so messed up so quickly? And how would they go back to normal?

But Sasuke knew that was childish to demand such answers from his mother. He also knew that there would be no way to go back to "normal" after all of this.

Instead he took his mother's hand and gently kissed her on a non-bandaged part of it. Naruto came to her bedside, and for half a moment, Naruto looked like he wanted to throw his arms around her in affection like he was known to do. Instead he just squeezed her hand, and she smiled at him. Itachi nodded at his mother before ushering his younger brothers, blood and otherwise, out of the room.

"Before either of you bombard me with a million questions," Itachi started as soon as they exited the room, "let's find a more private place to talk, and I will start with what I feel you will need to know the most about, and then go from there."

Itachi's words reminded Sasuke of how his mother had made them wait to ask questions, giving them what she thought they needed to know first. A surge of anger swelled up within Sasuke. If his family had just been honest with them from the beginning, he and Naruto wouldn't have so many unanswered questions that needed to be explained.

They walked past Ibiki and Jiraiya who had only moved a few steps down the hall before Itachi ushered them into an empty room.

"First of all, father is fine. He is not here because as I am sure you have managed to gather, he did not agree with the ideology of the people in this village. He also seemed to be acting in a manner that I believed wasn't in the best interest for either of you."

"Which was why you were trying to take us away on my birthday," Naruto said. Itachi nodded.

"What happened to you after the car crash?"

"I will explain things in the order I think you need to hear them," Itachi said calmly. "I understand you have many questions, but as there is so much that you don't know I need to explain the bigger picture before getting into specifics."

Sasuke leaned against the wall, noting for the first time how the fairy hospital smelled like flowers, not like the normal sickly-covered-by-antiseptic-odor of most other hospitals he'd ever been to.

"Obviously I've known I was a fairy for some time. I've been modifying your memories since right after the visit from the hospital when you overheard our parents speaking about Naruto."

A jolt went through Sasuke. He had forgotten about that memory, and at Itachi's words it rushed back to him in full force.

"I found out I was a fairy not long after the first troll got into the house when you were four," Itachi said, looking at Sasuke.

"Mom mentioned something along those lines – something about the picture," Sasuke said, vaguely remembering his mother's words. Her explanation about how they were fairies seemed like it had happened a lifetime ago.

"Mother didn't notice what eventually happened to the picture. The picture had been knocked over, and she thought you had done it. She put the picture back on the wall. It took a week, but by the end of the week, the plastic covering had slowly eaten away. It was disturbing, to say the least. Of course now I know it was the slow working of the troll's poison that had gotten onto the plastic. At the time, I didn't know what to think. Our mother had said that you had knocked it down. It wasn't until much later that she finally told me that you said a monster had done it.

"When I went to take it down to see what happened to the plastic, touching the picture burned my hand. It shocked me so much that naturally I dropped the picture. I watched as my hand burned, but then, something strange happened. I willed it to stop burning; I willed the pain to go away. It did. I watched as the burnt flesh fizzled back to normal. I picked up the picture and willed the plastic to go back to the way it was. It did."

"Whoa, you figured it out quick!" Naruto said impressed. Itachi gave a little shake of the head.

"Tapping into my abilities wasn't always that easy. It was just the initial surge of power due to my shock at being hurt. Our power surges when we need it most: when we're injured and need to heal, or when we're scared or angered and need to fight. I had to train in order to learn how to properly use all of my abilities. Even so, after I started noticing that I could do things when I got hurt or easily angered I went to Mother and asked her if we were special. I asked her if perhaps I wasn't quite human."

"Yes, but to find out we're _fairies_?" Sasuke spat out rather disdainfully.

"It really isn't a fear-inspiring name," Naruto agreed. Itachi gave an amused smirk.

"No, but it is what it is," Itachi said maturely.

"What about Dad? Why did you take us away from him on Naruto's birthday?" Sasuke asked.

"Mother and Father were fire-fairies that left their hidden village. They _claimed_ to do so because they disagreed with how their fairy tribe dealt with their problems. But there was more to it than that. Not to mention that Father wasn't one to go completely against his family. I feared that if his family contacted him, he would have given Naruto over to them. Or, I think he would have given Naruto over to Kyuubi no Kashikoi.

"It would have given him higher prestige with Kyuubi, and he would have then been able to track down where Kyuubi hides using Sasuke's connection with Naruto. He would then have used that information to win favor with the fire fairies so they could finally destroy Kyuubi. If things went well," Itachi all but sneered at his own unpleasant words, "he would have been able to convince the fire fairies to let us 'keep' Naruto. If things didn't go well, Naruto would most likely have been killed by the fire-fairies as well."

Itachi's words shocked both Sasuke and Naruto.

"That's absurd. Uncle Fugaku would never -" Naruto started.

"Yes he would. He was one of the few who helped personally kill Kyuubi no Youko. He left not because he was disgusted with how the tribe worked as he claimed. He left because he was scared of Kyuubi no Kashikoi's retaliation," Itachi explained.

"Dad – Dad's not like that! He wouldn't just hand Naruto over-"

"No, he wouldn't 'just hand Naruto over.' But he wouldn't have tried to stop Kyuubi from taking him either. He would have done what would have been most advantageous for him. I don't think he wants you dead, Naruto, don't misunderstand me. He cares for you like a son as much as he is capable of caring for someone, but Father misses being amongst fairies. He's not satisfied living among humans. Of all the times you started to notice something, it was Mother and I who tried to stop it from happening. Father wanted us all to be full-fledged fairies and return to their fairy realm. If you didn't know, you could have been normal – or so I thought at first," Itachi explained.

"That should have been our choice!" Naruto said.

"You're right. I made a mistake. It would have been better," Itachi agreed. Sasuke was pretty sure that was the closest to an apology they would get from Itachi.

Itachi took a deep breath and began explaining again.

"Recently there were rumors going around that Naruto might reappear on his eighteenth birthday. People were on the lookout, as the date of his birth is publicly known since it was the date when Kyuubi and Naruto's father fought. This past year, there were signs that Kyuubi had survived the battle. He was 'sighted,' if you will. Father heard about it and realized that if Kyuubi still lived, he would want Naruto.

"Father also realized that he had an ace in the hole. You both have always been so close, and while Kyuubi would detest it, Kyuubi would soon realize that Naruto would be devastated not being around Sasuke. Family and friends have always been key in helping a hulijing train. Living together, basically growing up together, made it so that even though Sasuke was untrained, if separated for a long period of time, Sasuke would be able to seek out Naruto if they ever parted. Not that it's hard to find you, Naruto. Not now. Kyuubi, Jiraiya, and Ibiki found your aura so easily, it's almost scary."

"They did all show up almost within a half hour of each other, didn't they?" Naruto said bemused. Sasuke nodded once.

"It was like they came out of nowhere," Sasuke agreed.

"Still, you're making Uncle Fugaku sound like a horrible guy! He was, in a way, looking out for all of us. That's not so horrible, is it?" Naruto said, crossing his arms.

"When a hulijing finds a mate, they tend to stick with their partner for life. Father wanted to make sure that he had a hold of you, Naruto. Father has no daughters, so he tried to use Sasuke to make sure that you would become a part of the family."

Naruto's face flushed full red. Sasuke could feel his own face heat up.

"That's just-"

"No way-"

"It didn't work the way father expected it to. Hulijing's _choose_ to stay with one mate for life. It's just in their personality to be loyal. He thought that if the two of you were intimate, there would be something magically connecting you. He was wrong. As you're both males, there definitely cannot be any children between the two of you, but-"

"Itachi, what you're implying is absurd. How could he have tried to force us to be…intimate-" Naruto began, but Sasuke could tell that Naruto had thought of the same thing that Sasuke had.

The damned black light.

"Black lights have an affect on muse fairies. You are both partially muse fairies. When two fairies are extremely close with each other, they become in tune with the other's aura. You both grew up together. Spent almost every waking and non-waking moment together. You are extremely in tune with each other! You can heal each other because when you are damaged, the other's aura has a flash memory of how the other's aura should feel when it's normal. Sasuke, you should have died in the car crash. You should have _died_. Your aura went out, and Naruto's aura covered your body, and returned it to a semblance of normal. I've never seen anything like that happen before.

"As you know, different types of wavelengths affect different fairies. Sound fairies are more in tune with radio waves, and light wavelengths hurt them. Likewise, certain sound waves can make their bodies feel good, feel euphoric. With muse-fire fairy hybrids, there are certain wavelengths that can make them hurt, though it does not occur naturally in the human world. However, violet wavelengths, especially black lighting, make muse-fire fairies feel very good. When two muse-fire fairies who are so in tuned with each other's auras are under such lighting, it arouses sexual instincts and desire-"

"I don't want to hear this," Naruto said, turning away from Itachi, looking at the door.

Sasuke wasn't quite sure he wanted to either.

"This isn't something as unnatural as you make it out to be. Even human's bodies react to those they are close to. My least favorite is how all the women in my human work place have gotten so in tune with each other that they all have the same menstrual cycle. I deal with seven PMSing women all at the same time of the month. Men who are in tune with their wives can have sympathy pains with them during pregnancy. Being in tune with someone else's body is normal: just heightened with fairies," Itachi pressed.

Sasuke knew he and Naruto were 'in tune' with each other. But what Itachi implied was too much.

"Mother and I were always diligent to keep you away from each other in black lights. The lighting from the black light heightens how in tune you are. Father knew this, and he was the one who suggested you get Sasuke the black light for his birthday, wasn't he, Naruto?"

Sasuke looked at Naruto, mortified that his dad would try and press something like that upon them.

"Did he suggest it?" Sasuke asked Naruto. Naruto nodded. Sasuke looked away.

"I told you; Father thought it would make sure that you two were even closer," Itachi said sorrowfully. "It was a mistake on his part. I actually thought it would drive you both further apart, not together. But it did happen. The memory is there. You don't need to be intimate to be close to someone you love."

Sasuke felt his body shaking in anger. Had his father really tried to use him and Naruto like that?

"That memory is still fuzzy. What _really_ happened between us?" Naruto asked, looking off to the side.

Sasuke looked at Itachi. He didn't want to know.

Yet he did. Itachi didn't say anything as he used his good arm to gently press a finger to Naruto and then Sasuke's foreheads.

---

It was Sasuke's eighteenth birthday. He and Naruto had gone to bed as usual. Naruto was hyper from all the birthday cake he'd eaten, especially since Sasuke didn't like sweets and Naruto always had Sasuke's piece.

"Why do you get a cake for your birthday if you're not going to eat it?" Naruto asked as he turned to look at Sasuke. Sasuke turned to look at Naruto, finding Naruto's appearance strange due to the new lighting in their room.

It was the first time since Sasuke could remember that they had a different light other than their "nightlight." Naruto had gotten him a black light for his birthday, insisting it would be "cooler" for people their age to have a black light rather than a "nightlight." The purplish light made the atmosphere in the room seem very different than normal.

Sasuke was just about to answer Naruto's question by explaining that he didn't have the heart to deny his mother baking for him on his birthday when he found himself caught up just staring at Naruto. The small black light that they had fixed above their bed made the white sheets contrast brightly against Naruto's skin. The sheets were pulled up close to Naruto's neck, but his bare arm was propped on top of the sheets.

Naruto's skin looked darker than normal due to the contrast, and Sasuke had the strangest urge to brush his fingers along Naruto's skin to see if it felt as different as it looked.

"What are you doing?" Naruto murmured, the earlier hyperness in his voice sounding strangely raspy.

"Hmm?" Sasuke asked, finding it almost hard to speak.

"Why are you running your fingers along my skin?" Naruto asked, looking at Sasuke strangely.

Strange. Sasuke hadn't even realized he was doing that until Naruto had said something. Why was he doing this? He wasn't quite sure, but he did realize that Naruto felt strangely warm.

"You're warm," Sasuke murmured. His fingers continued to brush Naruto's arm. Sasuke locked eyes with Naruto noticing the way that Naruto's eyes looked at him in confusion.

His hand continued to stroke Naruto's arm, this time up from his forearm, past his elbow, moving across his bicep. Sasuke trailed his fingers lightly along Naruto's collarbone to where the sheet was pressed against his neck He pulled his eyes away from Naruto's gaze to watch his hand stroke gently against Naruto's pulse beating softly at the bottom of his neck.

Before he realized what he was doing, Sasuke moved the sheet slowly away from Naruto's neck, watching as the white sheet gradually revealed more of Naruto's skin. He stopped pulling the sheet down when it reached the top of Naruto's sleep shorts. They were dark black, and Sasuke just stared at them, staring at the drawstring that was tied in a loose knot at the front.

Slowly he pulled the sleep shorts down to see what the rest of Naruto's skin looked like beneath the black light. His hand traveled lower, and he heard Naruto make a strange sort of pleasured gasp.

Naruto seemed just as mesmerized watching what Sasuke was doing as Sasuke felt doing it. Sasuke pulled the sheet slowly down Naruto's body, his shorts following not far behind the sheet. Both sheet and sleep shorts came completely off of Naruto, and Sasuke found himself in awe as he stared at Naruto's naked body, contrasting beautifully against the glowing sheets.

It was as though Sasuke had never seen Naruto before. Why had he never realized how simply breathtaking he was? His body was smooth yet hard, and Sasuke once again found his fingers trailing over the warmth of Naruto's body. He trailed nonsensical patterns up and down Naruto's legs before tracing circles along Naruto's inner thighs. Naruto gasped and spread his legs as Sasuke sat up so he could continue touching and caressing Naruto's body.

Sasuke watched in fascination as Naruto's cock began to slowly harden as Sasuke's hands brushed the back of his hand against it as he touched Naruto.

An overwhelming sense of power came over Sasuke as he watched the way he made Naruto's body respond to him. It was a strange, strange feeling.

Suddenly, Sasuke realized that he had stood up next to the bed and his clothes lay scattered on the floor. Naruto's eyes were on him, raking his eyes over Sasuke's body, and Sasuke gasped as Naruto tentatively put out a hand to touch his body, stroking his sides, making Sasuke shudder.

The touch was soft yet seemed to burn him.

"You look different," Naruto murmured.

Sasuke looked down at himself, and it seemed that his pale skin was glowing underneath the black light.

"You feel different," Sasuke murmured as he clasped Naruto's wrist, running his fingers along the back of Naruto's hands, trailing up his arms to his shoulders.

Again, feeling only half aware of what he was doing, Sasuke straddled Naruto's legs, his knees bent, his back rigidly straight as he hovered over his friend.

Sasuke's fingers worked at massaging the tight muscles beneath him, taking pleasure in the grunts and moans that came from Naruto's lips.

Once again, Sasuke found his body moving on its own as he began to trace his fingers along Naruto's lips. Blue eyes looked into his friend's curious gaze, watching as Sasuke's head moved closer and closer to his, their chests almost touching.

"Sasuke," Naruto murmured, as Sasuke leaned forward slightly, his lips brushing Naruto's. They were petal soft, and warm, so warm. They pressed their lips together lightly before Sasuke opened his mouth, his tongue trailing gently along Naruto's lips.

Naruto's one hand came to grasp Sasuke's hips, while the other, shy in its intent, barely touched Sasuke's cock.

The light touch made Sasuke spring his lips away from Naruto, the shock of pleasure making him thrust into Naruto's curious, inexperienced touch. Sasuke's hand snaked around in between his legs to find Naruto's own arousal, holding it firmly in his hand.

Naruto throbbed underneath his touch. He squeezed his friend, feeling powerful again as Naruto's eyes lidded closed. Sasuke's hand stilled as Naruto stroked him softly, sensually, breaking his concentration.

Sasuke shuddered as he found his body once again moving both with and without his will. His eyes locked onto his friend's face as Naruto's eyes widened as Sasuke spread his legs, sinking himself down on top of Naruto's awaiting dick.

Naruto's head shot back, his mouth opening in surprise at the feeling.

Having Naruto inside of him literally made his insides burn, like a poker was splitting him open. Tears formed at the corners of his eyes, though he gritted his teeth, refusing to give into the pain, when Naruto's hand came up and touched his hips.

The pain left immediately. It was as though Naruto's touch had healed his insides, leaving a strange feeling of pressure relieved, making him hiss in shocked pleasure as Naruto moved his hips tentatively up.

Naruto's hands began to roam over Sasuke's body, leaving him gasping at the warmth of Naruto's touch, kneading, caressing, and just holding him.

Meanwhile, Sasuke found himself fascinated with staring at the way the black light made Naruto look like some dark hero, bathed in a strange glow, not quite an angel, but like a man who would go to slay demons.

Watching the way Naruto's body reacted to his made Sasuke's cock twitch, and he couldn't help the way his hand stroked himself in time with the slow, sensual thrusts of Naruto's body.

He wouldn't say there was an exact spot that Naruto touched inside him that made him alive with fire, but a certain angle, a certain type of stroke gently brushing him so intimately seemed to leave him wanting Naruto to thrust into him repeatedly.

Sasuke gripped Naruto's shoulders, forcing Naruto deeper into him, and Naruto grasped at Sasuke's hips.

"Sasuke-" Naruto grunted huskily, trying to still Sasuke. "It feels...it's so..." Naruto mumbled, turning his face to the side, gripping his hands against Sasuke's hips, sounding uncertain.

It didn't matter to Sasuke. He merely stroked his fingers over Naruto's face. Naruto closed his eyes and let Sasuke take them away in pleasure.

The next few moments blurred to Sasuke; his head was so fuzzy with feeling filled.

Pounding. There was pounding. Was it at the door? Where was it coming from?

Yes, there was pounding at the door, but there was pounding from the headboard too. Sasuke looked down to see Naruto's mouth half open, almost unaware of the pounding from the door as their bodies moved hard against each other with each thrust. Sweat began to pour from them, exertion in their bodies at the amount of energy needed to work up such pleasure.

The door burst open, and Itachi came in, looking at the two of them in shock. He yelled something at them before coming closer and smashing the black light to pieces.

The pieces of glass from the broken black light left cuts along Sasuke's naked skin, but as soon as Naruto touched him again, they vanished. However, Naruto had slipped out of him, and Sasuke groaned at the loss as he tried to get closer to Naruto again.

Sasuke didn't have time to move very far as Itachi grabbed him and Naruto, flinging them apart. Naruto made a noise of protest, and he reached for Sasuke. Sasuke reached for Naruto as well, but felt his body freeze mid-motion. He felt a coolness hit him as the air chilled his naked, sweaty body, and suddenly he felt like a great deal was pulled from his mind, and like something heavy was placed over his heart.

For a few moments, Sasuke lay there, not quite sure what was going on, but Itachi was muttering something to himself, and he held a piece of the broken glass in his hands, clenching it tightly as he barked orders at Naruto to put clothes on, looking at neither of them.

Itachi stripped the bed, put new blankets on, and made them both lie down on either side as far from each other as possible.

Sasuke vaguely remembered watching Itachi clutch almost desperately at the broken shard, wondering if it was cutting his hand. Itachi left their room, banging the door behind him. It left Sasuke feeling annoyed at his brother.

That night, Sasuke wrapped his arms around himself, feeling drained, cold, and lonely.

The next morning, he remembered nothing.

---

Sasuke backed away from Itachi's touch, looking over at Naruto. Naruto looked down at himself, seemingly astonished.

He looked like Sasuke felt. Shocked. Scared. Was he supposed to be appalled? Naruto was his best friend, but they weren't like _that._ Yet how could he look at Naruto the same way knowing what had happened between them?

Sasuke looked over at Naruto, noticing that glowing presence around Naruto was even more pronounced now. Naruto's aura. Sasuke had to look away from his friend. He felt…he didn't know what he felt.

The door clicking behind him made Sasuke whirl back around. For half a moment, he feared Naruto had run out without talking to him first.

Instead he saw that Itachi had left them alone.

"Uh…" Naruto started.

"Yeah," Sasuke agreed.

"We're friends," Naruto stated.

"Best friends," Sasuke agreed. "Just best friends."

"Right. That was, just, something strange. We're good?"

"We don't need to talk about it again. It never happened," Sasuke said, nodding.

"Awesome. That's that," Naruto said.

"That's that," Sasuke agreed. He nodded, feeling relieved.

It meant nothing. It just happened. That was it. He and Naruto shared relieved looks.

"Now let's go find a bathroom," Naruto said. Sasuke half chuckled.

Nothing had happened. It was just a spur of the moment thing from that stupid black light. The only reason Sasuke's heart was pounding so quickly now was only due to the fact that he had just relived that strangely erotic moment. That was it. There was nothing between them.

He and Naruto would be perfectly fine.

Naruto grinned at him before giving him an awkward punch in the shoulder before heading out to find a bathroom.

Sasuke blanched, and stifled a gasp, placing his hand at the spot where Naruto had lightly punched him. It burned, but not in pain. It was more of a pleasant tingling sensation, as though some of Naruto's warmth that Sasuke was sure he could see here in "fairyland" had rubbed off on him.

He was just glad that Naruto hadn't seen his reaction. As Sasuke rubbed the spot that Naruto had briefly touched, Sasuke murmured to himself.

"This can't be good."

* * *

_In seconds, friendships can be torn apart over the gravest of misunderstandings even with the best of intentions. ~ Jelp_

* * *

**Next Chapter: Where To Begin?**

I hope that you enjoyed the chapter! Let me know what you thought. ~ Jelp


	11. Chapter 11: Where to Begin?

**Afraid of the Dark**

**Chapter 11: Where to Begin?**

* * *

_"And this is the forbidden truth, the unspeakable taboo-that evil is not always repellent but frequently attractive; that it has the power to make of us not simply victims, as nature and accident do, but active accomplices."_

_Haunted: Tales of the Grotesque (Joyce Carol Oates)_

* * *

Sasuke sat on his bed with his bare feet firmly planted on the floor. The carpet felt soft to the touch. It idly reminded him of his and Naruto's room at home. He'd had to place the thickly carpeted rug on the floor on his side of the bed for the times that Naruto had forced him to get up in the morning against his will.

Yet this was not his home. It was almost completely dark here, a rarity that Sasuke was not used to. They had always had some sort of light on at home to ward off their subconscious fear of the trolls. However, they had been assured that no trolls would dare come near this area. In this realm, they had other means of protecting themselves against things that thrived maliciously in the dark.

He would love to say that the lack of his usual security light was keeping him awake, something he would never have felt any type of joy admitting that, as an eighteen year old, he still needed a nightlight. At least his embarrassment was lessened upon finding out that it had actually been necessary; their fears of the dark were truly justified.

Yet that wasn't why he couldn't sleep. Instead, his thoughts whirled with the memories of Naruto's 18th birthday.

Sasuke looked at the side clock and cursed at the early hour. There was so much he could have on his mind. He should be worrying about his ill mother. He should be worrying about his missing father. He should be worrying about how he'd likely never see his home again. He should be worrying about what people expected for him to do now that his life had turned completely upside down.

Yet all he could focus on was how he and Naruto had had sex – and the fact that if they had the choice to do so again, Naruto wouldn't want to and Sasuke would.

The fact that he wanted Naruto scared him.

The question was why would he want Naruto of all people? Why now? Was it because of some damned fairy-reaction that caused him to be aroused by Naruto? Was it merely a fluke? Or was he actually authentically attracted to Naruto? He had a feeling it was a little of both, but the fact that his own feelings were controlled by something beyond his grasp made him feel like how his body reacted wasn't legitimate. He knew what his body wanted, but he didn't know what his heart desired.

He'd never felt remotely attracted to Naruto before. Why did he now?

Was it because now he knew - because now he remembered how wonderful it had been?

Sasuke stood, unable to be alone on his bed any longer. It felt too empty without Naruto's obnoxious presence. He paced the length of the room, angrily glaring at everything. This wasn't what he had wanted to have happen. Finding out the truth had just caused a rift between them. Perhaps they would have been better off not knowing.

He wouldn't have to remember the way that Naruto looked or felt or tasted or -

_What the hell was he thinking?!_

Sasuke slammed his fist into the wall repeatedly till he could feel blood running down his fingers. The hot pressure of the damage to his hand seemed to cool his head. The more he hurt his body the less his mind seemed to dwell on things he had no answers to. Finally, when the pain became too much, he stopped beating his hand. The pain swelled and washed through him. Sasuke wiggled his fingers experimentally with a slight wince. They would be sore in the morning, but no lasting damage. Sighing, he carelessly wiped the blood off, relishing in the pain.

The door to his room flew open. Naruto stood there, looking stricken. His aura, the aura that Sasuke could now constantly see in this "fairyland" place, seemed like a beam of light in the dark room.

"What was that noise? Are you okay?" Naruto asked with his eyes wild and concerned. It was the first time since most of their memories had returned that Naruto was actually looking at him. They hadn't said more than two words to each other since Jiraiya had ushered them into his home, telling them to make themselves feel welcome. Even at dinner, they had merely taken their food and gone back to their rooms.

Not that Sasuke wanting to be by himself was unusual; he enjoyed time alone. It was the fact that _Naruto _wanted time by himself that made Sasuke feel so uneasy. Clearly neither of them had coped well with the discovery.

To have Naruto looking at him so intensely with worry in his eyes made Sasuke feel a new sweep of confusing emotions.

From years of living with him, years of sleeping in the same bed with him, Sasuke could tell Naruto hadn't been sleeping either. For one, Naruto's hair wasn't sleep tussled.

"There was a bug on the wall," Sasuke lied easily.

"A bug?" Naruto asked, his eyes darting around the dark room.

"I slammed it against the wall," Sasuke said with a shrug.

"What did you do? Beat it to death a thousand times?" Naruto asked.

"It was a strange looking bug. This is a strange place. Just wanted to be thorough."

"Yeah, uh, sure," Naruto agreed without conviction. The concern from his voice was gone, an awkwardness lingering. "You're not getting much sleep either, are you?" Naruto wondered, scratching his head curiously. Sasuke was grateful Naruto wasn't going to call him out on his extremely lame bug excuse.

"No."

"Maybe we should sleep together?" Naruto asked.

The words hadn't been meant to sound lewd, but Sasuke couldn't help his breath hitching at the words. And as soon as he had said them, Naruto seemed to realize how it had sounded.

"Not like that! I mean - not like that accident - like - oh fucking shit," Naruto growled, turning away from Sasuke. "I can't pretend like it didn't happen," Naruto murmured.

Sasuke licked his lips and moved to stand behind Naruto. Naruto's head lifted slightly, but he didn't move when Sasuke moved so that their bodies touched lightly.

"Naruto," Sasuke murmured. Naruto whirled. His movement startled Sasuke, and he had to take a step back.

"Don't," Naruto warned, his eyes wide.

"Naruto," Sasuke repeated, stepping closer to Naruto. This time Naruto took a step back until his back was pressed against the door frame. Tentatively Sasuke pressed his body fully into Naruto's. His heartbeat fluttered in his chest, and his sleep pants showed how much he was enjoying the erotic tension of the situation.

He looked into Naruto's eyes, eyes that were wide and almost fearful - almost because there was a tinge of lust that balanced it out.

It was though his body moved of its own accord as he pressed his lips against Naruto's while he trapped Naruto's hips between the door frame and his groin.

Naruto moaned as he opened his mouth to let Sasuke kiss him, soon joining in as his tongue stroked and caressed Sasuke's mouth. Their tongues played with each other, as Sasuke's hands began to roam along Naruto's body, feeling how warm and firm he felt. His fingers brushed the hem of Naruto's pajama bottoms.

Rough hands suddenly pushed against Sasuke's chest, shoving him off of Naruto so that his back hit the other side of the doorframe. The breath left him at the force of contact.

Sasuke's eyes were wide as he looked at Naruto. He took a deep breath to gain the _whoosh_ of air that had left him, breathing as hard as if they had just run from a thousand trolls hot on their heels.

"No. We can't. This is wrong," Naruto said, not looking at Sasuke.

"Why? Why is this wrong?" Sasuke demanded angrily. Before he had thought it was too. But at the moment, his brain wasn't working; his body knew what it wanted, making such thoughts unimportant.

"You're like my brother. That's-"

"We're not related. It's okay, we're-"

"No! No. It's not okay. This can't be okay. What will everyone else think?" Naruto asked.

"Who cares what they think? Who cares? If it were just us - just us left together -"

"But it's not just us left together, don't you see? Don't you get that? There's something more going on! This isn't because of what we're feeling. Other people are manipulating what we feel-"

"I don't care about anyone else!"

Sasuke knew it to be true, but didn't want it to be so. He just wanted to feel what he felt and for it to be okay.

"I won't be the cause of you getting hurt – or your death!" Naruto snarled. The admission seemed to startle him as much as it startled Sasuke.

"What are you talking about?"

"Come on Sasuke! Things are going down hill and fast! You almost died in that car accident because of me. The trolls came after us because of me. We almost didn't escape! Even the first time we met, something could have happened to you because of me! There's no way I'm going to be allowed to come back with you. Kyuubi wants me, and what happens if he does something to hurt you to get to me? The only reason your father wanted us together was as a sure means to save his own ass. But things aren't going to go smoothly; I can feel it. Something bad is going to happen, and if it happens to you, it'll be my fault," Naruto said almost frantic. Sasuke merely shook his head.

"You're thinking too much. Those things were all in the past when we didn't know what was going on. We're safe here. And no one will care. After all, didn't my father want us to be together? It's not like he will look down on us. My mother won't mind, and when has Itachi ever really given a fuck about anything other than if we survive in one piece or not?" Sasuke asked.

By Naruto's reaction, his words held all the wrong things that Naruto had wanted to hear.

"Yeah, your father. It wasn't our choice. You're probably just too screwed up to even think right. And your Mom was probably in on it too. And Itachi, well, at least Itachi tried to get me away from your parents and what I had no control over," Naruto snarled and walked out of the room.

The words froze Sasuke in place. That didn't sound like Naruto at all. Even if his father had tried to use them, Naruto had even felt disbelief about learning of his father's betrayal. Naruto couldn't have meant what he said. He was just angry.

And so was Sasuke.

Sasuke marched down the hall, watching as Naruto entered his room. The door hadn't even closed when Sasuke pushed it open and pushed Naruto hard in the back. Naruto stumbled forward, but quickly caught his balance.

"What's your problem?" Sasuke demanded. Naruto whirled around and glared at Sasuke incredulously.

"What's my problem?! You're the one that just pushed me for no fucking reason!"

"I pushed you because you have a stick shoved up your ass. You didn't mean what you said. What's wrong?"

"I'm not the one with anything shoved up my ass. That was you, remember?" Naruto said.

Sasuke punched Naruto in the face. The impact was less than Sasuke had meant for, his hand still sore from needlessly beating his fist against the wall. Naruto stumbled backward, but quickly regained his balance. He kept his face turned from Sasuke. A large red mark already blossomed where Sasuke had landed his hit, a large bruise sure to follow.

"I shouldn't have said that," Naruto said, his voice sounding defeated. Tears glistened at the corner of his eye, but he rubbed at his face in a not-so-subtle manner to get rid of the tears before they fell. "What's wrong with us?"

"We've been through a lot," Sasuke offered.

"I don't know what to believe. Demon? Fairy? Who and what am I? Where are my parents? Where do I belong in all of this mess? Who do I trust?" Naruto asked, looking at Sasuke, as though he had the answers.

"Me. You trust me, right?" Sasuke said. The way Naruto's blue eyes stared at him made a cold weight of truth settle in his heart. "You don't trust me?" Sasuke asked. Even though Naruto didn't answer him, the fact that he couldn't gave away how he felt was answer enough.

With that realization, Sasuke could merely stare at Naruto, watching as the beautiful golden, halo of his aura seemed to dance along his tan skin, as though the turmoil of what he felt hummed uncomfortably in the energy right on the surface. Sasuke gently reached his hand out, his fingers almost but not quite touching Naruto's skin, playing with the hum of energy that radiated off of Naruto. He traced his fingers along the golden hum. He wasn't sure if he was trying to comfort himself, or to coerce Naruto into trusting him.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Naruto asked, Sasuke's strange behavior eliciting a somewhat normal reaction.

"Can you see this?" Sasuke asked as he stroked the aura some more, his fingers immersed in a haze of gold.

"Apparently not 'cuz I can't tell what the heck you're doing," Naruto said as he watched Sasuke's fingers ghost over his skin. "Feel free to go all sorts of weird and freaky on me. I'm fine, really," Naruto said sarcastically. Sasuke shot him a dark glare.

"It's your aura. It shines bright, just like Kyuubi and Jiraiya said. I can see it, like you have a light glow coming from your skin."

"Whoa, really? Like a Glow Warm? Or a lightening bug?" Naruto asked excitedly.

If it weren't for the fact that Sasuke had just punched Naruto really hard already, he would have for being able to get so easily distracted. Then again, watching Naruto's face, he could tell that Naruto was trying to act normal after inadvertently letting him know he no longer held his trust. Sasuke noticed the way that Naruto's shoulders were tense. Sasuke used the opportunity to distract them both from their chaotic thoughts.

"Yeah, like a little fuzzy, fucking Glow Worm," Sasuke said, sarcastically. Naruto glared.

"Well I can't see it! How am I supposed to know?" Sasuke didn't bother to deign a response. Instead, Sasuke continued to let his hands roam over and through the aura, watching as it seemed to flicker around his fingers. It seemed odd that his touch was able to manipulate a response at all; as far as he knew from what little he'd heard of people's so called auras (which apparently were as real as fairies, go figure), he had always imagined it to be intangible. While Sasuke couldn't actually feel it, per se, it definitely reacted to him and let off warmth.

Naruto watched confused as Sasuke began to stroke it softly. It caused Naruto to gasp and shiver. Sasuke felt a warmth surge through him, his hand feeling strangely light and pleasant as he stroked Naruto's aura.

"Stop. I dunno what you're doing, but that feels freaky now," Naruto said.

"This?" Sasuke asked as he stroked the golden liquid-like substance that was Naruto's aura. Naruto took a step backward. The movement left Sasuke's hand in mid air, feeling tingly like he'd just gotten a bad static shock when Naruto pulled away. Naruto rubbed his hands over his chest and then his face.

"Didn't mean for it to hurt," Sasuke murmured, the closest he would come to an outright apology. Sasuke's eyes widened slightly as he saw the bruise that had begun to form on Naruto's face from where he'd punched him faded to nothingness. Not to mention, his hand felt better.

Whatever he'd done to Naruto's aura had been the cause of healing the both of them.

"It didn't hurt. It just, felt weird. How were you able to do that? I can't even describe what that felt like. Kinda like you were making my whole body go 'zoooooooong' or something."

"_Zoooooong_?" Sasuke repeated with his eyebrows raised.

"Yeah. Like someone hitting a gong and you feel it vibrating through you."

"No idea how I did it," Sasuke shrugged. However, the way that Naruto described it, the way that Sasuke was able to see the aura and touch it intrigued him. Vibrations. Sound waves caused, or rather, i_were/i_ vibrations. Perhaps he could manipulate certain types of wave lengths? He could see the aura. Maybe being in this place was making him more attuned to his fairy side. Maybe this was a gift? Maybe this was the key to how they healed each other? Maybe it was the key to a lot more…Then again, he'd been touching Naruto. Perhaps the pressure from the touches caused the vibrations due to a sub-sound he couldn't hear…?

He sat down on the edge of the bed, thoughtful. When they'd been in a desperate situation, he'd been able to grow wings and fly while Naruto was touching him. Both he and Naruto could heal each other when they'd put their hands close or on the other. Now he was seeing Naruto's aura and able to have Naruto feel it.

The tension from the bed dipped, and Sasuke looked over to see Naruto sitting next to him. They were silent for a moment, but Sasuke watched, fascinated, as the aura seemed to almost swirl around Naruto as though building energy.

"I think something else happened with a black light once before," Naruto murmured softly, looking away. Sasuke sat a little straighter but didn't say anything, slightly startled at Naruto's admission. He didn't remember any other incident involving a black light. In fact, looking back on it, their family had been very good about making sure no black lights were ever around them - even going so far as to remove the purple lights, closest to the black light in wave length measurements, from the flashlight with changing colored lenses.

But perhaps Naruto remembered something he didn't. Maybe not all their memories were back, and Naruto had remembered some that he hadn't.

"But it wasn't with you," Naruto said, looking at his hands. Sasuke's head shot to look at Naruto, surprised. "It was with Itachi."

Words got stuck in Sasuke's throat as a sickening feeling of iciness swept over him. Sasuke felt like an idiot. Of course he wasn't the only muse-fire fairy around Naruto; so was Itachi. Itachi would have the same reactions as he would.

"You - and he - " Sasuke started, but couldn't finish the sentence.

"No," Naruto said vehemently. "No. Nothing...nothing like what, what we did. No sex," Naruto said, looking away, a red blush on his face. "I think this was about five years ago. I think he was just sorta snuggly. Kinda touchy feeling. Made me sit in his lap and played with my hair."

He didn't think Naruto was lying about what he said. Sasuke believed Naruto when he said that he and Itachi hadn't had sex. But it still wasn't good, whatever happened. Even the thought of Itachi merely _snuggling_ with Naruto made his insides burn with unwanted jealousy.

Sasuke felt a surge of hatred toward his brother: a hatred so strong that he wanted to hurt Itachi. And no wonder Naruto had sounded so pissed at his father earlier; he'd had a good reason. Sasuke felt furious at his father too. How could he have been so heartless, treating them all like pawns in some twisted game?

"It's not like it was our fault or anything. Not for you and me – it was the black light. And not for me and Itachi – it was the damned black light again. It wasn't our fault."

Our fault. Naruto didn't blame Itachi. Sasuke did. Itachi seemed to know everything, and for some reason, the fact that Itachi had been older and knew about their situation and had control over his own abilities made him the one at fault. And, he supposed, he blamed himself for what happened between him and Naruto. But maybe Naruto was right. Maybe everything they felt was all an illusion.

"Seriously. It was the whole black light idea with your father again for trying to get you and me together. Whatever we're feeling, it's nothing to do with what we really want to feel. What happened was Uncle Fugaku suggested that Itachi get a black light for you for your thirteenth birthday. I'm pretty sure your dad was trying to put the black light in our room to start something between you and me. Anyway, Itachi wanted me to see it to make sure you would like it. And, then, well, you know...and then Itachi sorta realized what was going on and he shattered the light. I mean, I just remembered that recently, but I do remember that for at least six months after your thirteenth birthday, he wouldn't let me in his room."

Looking back on it, Sasuke did vaguely remember Naruto being unofficially banned from Itachi's room. While Naruto must have had his memory pushed into the far recesses of his mind, Itachi hadn't been able to forget it. Sasuke wasn't sure if he was okay with the fact that Itachi had been keeping so many secrets from them or not. He wasn't sure, in fact, who _he_ should trust.

His father had apparently been trying to force him and Naruto together. His mother must have known what was going on to some degree. And Itachi had merely hidden the bad things from them. The people who were trying to help them seemed to have their own agenda, and there was still so much for them to learn about being fairies, that he doubted working out their emotional problems would be at the top of Ibiki or Jiraiya's lists.

And Naruto...

Naruto didn't trust _him_.

"It's dark in here. Really creepy. Makes me think trolls are gonna pop up outta no where," Naruto said with a little shudder of disgust. The only lighting option in the room came from the overhead light. And while they were used to having a light on, the overhead light would probably be too bright for them if they wanted to sleep. Of course, for Sasuke, the soft glow of Naruto's aura was comforting light enough.

"Yeah," Sasuke agreed mindlessly. There really wasn't much else he could say. There were too many thoughts racing through his head and too much for him to want to deal with any of it.

"I remember now, the night we met. We hid under the covers with the light on," Naruto said, a smile on his face. "Maybe we should do that tonight?"

Sasuke felt his chest tighten, but in a strangely good way.

"Hide under the covers together like little kids?" Sasuke asked, amused.

"Bastard. Don't think I don't know you're not just a tad bit freaked out with all we've been through," Naruto challenged. Sasuke snorted. "For safety, you know. Sleep tog- sleep on the same bed together," Naruto corrected himself with a blush, "and have the lights on – just in case."

"Right. For safety," Sasuke said, nodding his head.

"Jackass," Naruto said as he threw a pillow at Sasuke's head. He got off of the bed, and turned on the light. Sasuke turned down the sheets as Naruto inched into bed next to him, both pulling the covers over their heads.

"I feel like a six year old," Sasuke said as his voice came out strangely muted underneath the blankets. He opened his eyes and saw the soft, golden glow of Naruto's aura. Despite his words he felt strangely content and warm next to him…and perfectly and utterly safe.

"Good night Sasuke."

"Night."

Sasuke took a deep breath and rolled over onto his side away from Naruto, willing himself not to try and touch Naruto as Naruto seemed really against the idea. Just as Sasuke began to drift off to sleep, he felt something lightly touch his back.

Naruto snuggled closer to him, his body pressed against Sasuke's.

"You know, for safety," Naruto murmured against Sasuke's back. "In case something happens, we'll be able to heal each other right away."

"Right. For safety," Sasuke murmured with a smile on his lips as he drifted happily off to sleep.

**Next Chapter: Eyes to See the Soul**

* * *

"_And somehow, when we snuggle underneath our comfortable blankets, the scary things of the world seem to disappear, if only for a little while." ~ Jelp_

* * *

I used to have a Glow Warm. Mine was the baby Glow Warm. I hugged that thing to death. I loved watching it light up when you squeezed it. Hmm…I wonder if I should have Sasuke squeeze Naruto so he lights up too.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! ~ Jelp


	12. Chapter 12: Eyes to See the Soul

**Afraid of the Dark**

**Chapter 12: Eyes to See the Soul**

* * *

_"It's funny. The world is so different in the daylight. But at night, your fantasies get out of hand. But in the daylight, everything falls back into place again." - Carnival of Souls (1962) (Candace Hiligoss_

* * *

A groggy haze filled Sasuke's mind as he slowly came to consciousness. Vaguely he realized that he and Naruto, snuggled as they used to when they were children, were not in their own bed at home. The all too real nightmare of the past few days came rushing back as he remembered that he and Naruto were fairies. Or he was and Naruto was some sort of special hybrid.

His mind didn't want to process the details of what had passed between them; instead he wanted to relish in the warmth of holding Naruto's comforting body close to his.

However, it was the sudden flash of cold, a chill of forewarning danger that jolted his mind suddenly awake. There was a distinctive feeling of awareness of something _other_ and not quite right in the room. As his hold tightened on Naruto, he could feel the stiffening of Naruto's body as he tensed and awoke. Neither of them moved, both holding their breaths.

Blearily Sasuke opened his eyes a crack. The room was still pitch dark, but even in the dark, he could make out the bright flow of Naruto's aura. It flared a deep hue of rich gold, which began to ripple as his body tensed.

A piece of what felt like metal, no thicker than the width of a bent paper clip, began to trail down Sasuke's scalp, to his forehead. It would have continued moving, but Sasuke wasn't going to stand around to find out what the hell was going on. With a sharp jerk of his head, he dislodged the thing from his face.

He and Naruto moved as one, their bodies connected and in sync as Naruto gripped Sasuke's arms that were already wrapped around him, both rolling to the right of the bed and off onto the floor. Naruto took the brunt of the impact, but as they had found out recently, when their bodies had skin to skin contact, pain seemed like an almost unnecessary factor.

They jumped to their feet, their eyes darting around as Naruto sprung forward toward the opposite wall, groping for the light switch. The room flooded with light. Their eyes burned slightly, unused to the brightness, but even with their eyes forced open they saw no movement.

Nothing was there.

Their hearts raced as they looked around the room, toward the closed door, and then the closed window.

"Under the bed?" Naruto mouthed as they moved slowly toward the door. Sasuke and Naruto pressed closer to the wall, their eyes darting around to see where or what could have moved. Slowly, Sasuke knelt, noting that the covers didn't even cover underneath the bed, leaving empty space between the four legs.

If it wasn't underneath the bed...

Sasuke's eyes darted up, Naruto's head whipping up to follow his line of sight.

Sasuke recoiled in disgust, Naruto mimicking his movement.

"Holy fucking shit! Is that the bug you were talking about earlier?" Naruto asked as he pressed his back up against the door, his eyes not leaving the ceiling as his hand groped for the doorknob. It took a moment for Sasuke to remember that he had lied to Naruto about smashing a bug against the wall.

Stretched out along the entire length of the ceiling was a silvery web. Dangling from a silver thread was what looked like a cross between a thin tarantula and a centipede. It was about the size of Sasuke's closed fist. Its body was like that of a tarantula, with hundreds of thin, spindly legs waving in the air. Sasuke shuddered as he realized one of those legs had been touching his face. The thing bobbed up and down on its string, almost taunting them to come closer.

"Is it dangerous?" Naruto breathed. Sasuke shot him a glare.

"I don't care if it's dangerous. I don't know what the hell it is, and even if I did I wouldn't go near the thing," Sasuke snapped out, turning his head back toward Naruto, only to note that the freaky thing was dangling near his face again, its metal like legs outstretched and waving near his face.

Sasuke scuttled backward, bumping into Naruto before he turned the knob, both of them stumbling out of the room with a resounding slam of the door.

They breathed heavily, looking at each other in the dark. The lights in the hallway flared to life. Both Sasuke and Naruto were grateful that their eyes had been semi-adjusted to the light in the room.

"What's going on?" Itachi asked, his eyes darting at both Naruto and Sasuke.

"A centipede and a tarantula had a baby. If you want to see it, it's in there," Sasuke clipped out, rubbing his forehead where the thing had touched his face.

"With lots of legs, probably spinning a web over the entire ceiling?" Itachi wondered, his back straightening.

"You know what it is? What's it called?" Naruto asked.

"In Chinese it means corpse snatcher – or ghoul. It was most likely after Sasuke's eyes," Itachi said calmly. Sasuke felt a chill go through him as he remembered how close that thing had been to his eyes. Itachi took a deep breath and looked around him. Sasuke looked at his brother's strange behavior.

"It's called a daoshi."

As soon as the word left Itachi's lips, it was as though someone had set off a popping smoke bomb right next to him. A white puff of smoke _poofed!_ out of no where. Naruto and Sasuke coughed slightly, the smoke clearing almost as quickly as it came.

"Yo."

A man clad in dark blues, greens, and black stood before them. His white hair stuck up in a wayward and rather spiky ponytail at the back of his head. At first, Sasuke thought the man looked like Kyuubi with his face hidden. Sasuke stepped protectively in front of Naruto, placing his own body between the possible threat and Naruto. His stance relaxed slightly when he realized it wasn't Kyuubi. The man smiled behind a mask that covered his mouth, his one visible eye crinkling upward happily as he lifted his hand in greeting. This strange welcome made Sasuke question the man's sanity. Someone who popped out of no where and didn't seem to find anything odd with his own appearance must have had a few screws loose.

Besides the initial greeting, the man, who had one eye covered behind an eye patch, had turned his attention to an orange book he pulled from his front pocket.

Itachi seemed completely unfazed that this man had appeared out of no where. However, as Sasuke wasn't one hundred percent sure that his brother wasn't crazy, not to mention the fact that he now knew that Itachi had kept so many secrets, Sasuke stayed on guard.

"This," Itachi started when he noticed the white-haired man completely and utterly uninterested into introducing himself, "is Kakashi."

"Do you always pop out of no where?" Naruto asked, slightly bewildered.

"Sometimes I use the door," Kakashi replied, not looking up from his book. "Someone mention a daoshi? As no one is screaming in horror and pain, I assume that it has yet to attack anyone and is contained? Your doing Itachi?" Kakashi asked mildly.

"My younger brother Sasuke and younger would-be-brother Naruto did it."

"I'm sure they did."

This time, Kakashi did look up. He pierced them with his one visible eye, giving Sasuke the impression that the feigned disinterest had been a way for him to observe them more clearly. In fact, Sasuke got the distinct and strange impression that he'd seen this man before. That in fact, he had felt this man's gaze before.

A memory of the day that Naruto had officially come to live with them popped into Sasuke's head, making it ache terribly. It had been the very first time he and Naruto had had their memories erased after the first troll attack on Naruto and his mom…

_ "Were we supposed to do something?" Sasuke asked, rubbing his head. It hurt a lot, especially right in the center of his forehead as though something sharp had poked him there. Naruto frowned._

_ "I don't remember. My head kinda feels fuzzy," Naruto said, scratching his head._

_ Sasuke shook his head, trying to remember, but the more he thought, the worse the pain in his head got. He decided not to think about it._

_ "I'm hungry," Naruto said suddenly. Sasuke looked around, noticing that his clock said that it was almost dinnertime. They must have slept for a while._

_ "Hn," Sasuke said. "I'll show you where the kitchen is." Sasuke suddenly remembered that he was supposed to give Naruto a tour of their house since he would be staying there while Naruto's mom was in a coma at the hospital._

_ How had he forgotten that Naruto's mom was in a coma in the hospital? That was the reason Naruto was staying with them now._

_ That must have been what he had forgotten!_

_ Convinced that he had figured out what he had forgotten, Sasuke led Naruto downstairs to eat, ignoring the dull throb in his forehead, not giving any more thought to his supposed dream about monsters._

_ He ignored the little voice in his head telling him that he needed to remember something very important._

_ Sasuke even ignored the little voice in his head telling him that he ought to be careful, careful of the feeling that something was watching him._

_ Sasuke was ignoring everything so well that he missed the pair of eyes that stared at him and Naruto through his bedroom window…_

_ …Sasuke was eleven. He kept feeling like someone was watching him. It kept feeling like there were eyes on him. It wasn't the first time he'd has this feeling, but this time it felt like a truly _bad_ feeling_

_ When he and Naruto went to bed that night, he couldn't help shake the feeling. While he lay awake in bed, he realized that Naruto hadn't gone to sleep either._

_ "I feel like someone's watching us," Sasuke whispered._

_ "I – I thought that too," Naruto said, his voice sounding scared. "What do we do?"_

_ "Take the flashlight. Let's go to Itachi's room. It's closest," Sasuke said. Naruto nodded, grabbing the flashlight before they dashed to Itachi's room._

_ "What're you doing?" Itachi asked, frowning as the two of them entered his room. He sat at his computer desk, typing up something on his computer. The only light in the room came from the glow off of Itachi's computer screen, and from the faint glow of the flashlight in Naruto's hand._

_ "There are eyes watching us," Naruto said. Sasuke glared at Naruto. He shouldn't say something like that to Itachi. Itachi would think they were being stupid._

_ But instead of brushing them off as acting up, Itachi frowned at them. He turned toward his window, and his eyes widened slightly when he looked out it. Sasuke tilted his head to the side to see what had made Itachi look like that._

_ "Stay in here with me tonight," Itachi said, doing something with his computer before turning it off. He flipped on a light before the computer finished booting down. "Get into bed you two," Itachi said, nodding to the bed. Like Sasuke and Naruto, he too had a large bed, but it would be a little squished with the three of them in there._

_ For a moment, Sasuke thought that Itachi was going to get into bed with them at the same time, but instead he headed for the door, grabbing the flashlight from Naruto._

_ "Hey! Where are you –" But Naruto's words died on his lips as he suddenly slumped back asleep, and Sasuke felt himself suddenly very, very tired –_

"You! You've been watching us!" Sasuke said, his eyes narrowed. He remembered at least once that being watched hadn't been a good thing. He eyed Kakashi with a distrustful glower.

Kakashi merely crinkled his eyes and smiled in response to Sasuke's threatening glare.

"Since Naruto came to stay with you, I have been checking in a lot more frequently. As you and Itachi are more likely to attract daoshi, it's only natural for me to come and check on you and pick them off before they harm either of you. And yes, I have watched you for some time. Sadly I was unable to come to your aid the other night when you had your run in with the trolls. Other times I've had more success at helping. I fear the other night I wasn't much use to you." He shared a meaningful glance with Itachi.

"Even so, your aid is always appreciated. One time he happened to stop by when there was a troll outside," Itachi said. Naruto's face lit up in remembrance, his eyes locking onto Itachi's.

"I remember. You made us stay in your room that night. You took my flashlight and knocked us out," Naruto said. Itachi shrugged. Sasuke looked at Kakashi. Apparently he'd helped with _one_ troll. While Itachi seemed to trust him, and while usually Sasuke trusted Itachi's judgment, he found himself on edge after hearing that Kakashi had been watching Naruto. Something both possessive and protective made him want to make sure Kakashi's intentions for Naruto were honorable.

"It was necessary at the time," Itachi explained, jarring Sasuke from his thoughts.

"We having a party?" Jiraiya asked, emerging from behind Sasuke and Naruto, his night cap tossed to one side, nodding at Kakashi in greeting.

"Daoshi," Kakashi said in way of greeting. His voice took a more serious tone, making Sasuke feel somewhat more at ease.

"Midnight snack meeting?" Yamato asked, Ibiki appearing behind him.

"Er, what are we all doing in the hallway?" Naruto asked, looking back and forth between everyone.

"Didn't you say there was a daoshi?" Kakashi asked mildly.

"A daoshi? Really?" Yamato asked, not looking too thrilled.

"I hate those things," Ibiki added.

"Morino," Kakashi said, addressing Ibiki.

"Hatake," Ibiki responded.

"Aren't you going to kill it, or something?" Naruto asked, his question aimed at Kakashi.

As the discussion began, Sasuke felt himself getting lightheaded. He began to hear a buzzing in his head as the others began discussing who should kill it. Via the conversation, it sounded like Kakashi was a trained daoshi killer. In fact, whenever the name was mentioned in a particular way, it would summon him to that spot.

However, the discussion turned into a bit of a pissing match when Morino and Jiraiya boasted about the daoshi they had killed, and Kakashi seemed to be lazy but not enough so to be one upped, which launched another discussion about it being Kakashi's job to handle.

Meanwhile, Sasuke's body began to feel heavy as he began to sweat.

"Sasuke," Itachi said, his voice full of concern as he gripped Sasuke's arm. "Did it touch you?"

All discussion ceased. He felt the gaze of everyone's eyes turning to him. Sasuke lightly touched the spot where the thing had touched him.

"It touched my head with its wire-like leg before we - "

Sasuke didn't have time to react as Itachi whipped a knife out of seemingly no where and slashed a shallow gash across his forehead.

Naruto screamed in surprised horror.

Itachi forced Sasuke to kneel to the floor, his body hunched forward as his own blood began to drip from his forehead upside down. The blood ran into his scalp from the way his head was bent over.

"What the fuck?! What's going on?!"

Sasuke could blearily hear Naruto yelling and screaming in terror, but the firm grip and gentle words Itachi began to say in Sasuke's ear made him feel somehow peaceful.

"Take deep breaths. The tips of their pincer legs are tinged with the same poison as the trolls have on their finger tips. They will make it so you do not feel the wound or the way the poison acts until too late. Their venom makes you become weak, so it is easier to pluck your eyes from your socket. You and Naruto must have touched. The wound from where the leg touched you has healed over the poison. Normally their wounds are difficult to heal, but I wager that Naruto's touch healed the wound and diluted some of the poison. With your body's reactions it clearly was not diluted enough. We need to let it bleed some from the source – and I believe Jiraiya has gone to fetch his wife. She's a healer and will most likely whip up an antidote for you quickly."

Apparently Naruto couldn't hear the explanation Itachi was giving Sasuke.

Sasuke gasped as he felt Itachi's body go tumbling from behind him, knocking his own body to the side as he heard Naruto raging and yelling. Sasuke turned to look, seeing Naruto get in a good, solid punch to Itachi's face before Jiraiya and Ibiki gripped Naruto's arms and pulled him off of Itachi. Itachi spat blood out of his mouth before reaching up and touching Naruto's head. Naruto's eyes glared heady defiance before he slumped still between his two restrainers. Where Morino and Jiraiya had been holding Naruto back before, his now limp body needed their mutual support as they walked him over to the wall and set him down gently.

Sasuke heard the sound of a door opening and some strange sounds as he thought Yamato and Kakashi had entered the room where the daoshi was still cooped up.

"I thought you were getting Tsunade," Itachi said, rubbing his jaw.

"Kid's got a nice punch," Jiraiya grinned before disappearing down the hallway. Or so Sasuke assumed. Things were still a bit fuzzy, and the awkward position of having his blood drip from his head wasn't entirely helping his head clear. Even as Sasuke went to adjust his position, Itachi put his hand on his lower back, stopping him from doing so.

"The flow has already started downward. If you switch positions, the blood flow will switch, causing the poison to spread."

Somehow Sasuke wasn't quite convinced. Head wounds should not be dealt with like this, and something of Itachi's "blood flow" explanation wasn't measuring up to what Sasuke had learned in health class.

However, as fairies, trolls, and creepy hybrid eye snatchers weren't part of his regular schooling, he decided that for now he would trust Itachi's judgment. That and things were getting fuzzy again…

* * *

"How're you feeling?" Naruto's soft whisper awoke Sasuke. His head throbbed like crazy. He reached out to grasp Naruto's hand, but Naruto pulled back. "Uh, apparently we can't touch yet. The stuff needs to be in your system for a while. The antidote that is. I mean, I guess we can heal each other's wounds and things, but certain poisons take a bit more and by touching I could interfere with it."

"I hate this," Sasuke said, the words sticking in his dry throat. He swallowed, feeling like there was a large lump there. "I hate being so helpless. We can't do anything. I always end up so fucked up," Sasuke groaned. He opened his eyes, noting that the light of dawn had begun to slip into the room.

"You're not helpless!"

"Yeah, I am. You or Itachi or someone else always has to make sure I'm alive. That stupid dao-" Sasuke paused, wondering if just saying the word would cause Kakashi to appear and decided not to chance it, "freak eye snatcher. The trolls. The car accident."

"Wait a minute! You totally saved us from the trolls! You flew! And all those years ago, I would be dead if you hadn't helped me. Ibiki was telling me that even though our aura connection helps us heal each other, poisons need to get out of our bodies' systems differently. But for the most part, you have healed me a ton. Stop being so emo and get your happy-little-fairy-self back together!"

"Happy-little-fairy-self?" Sasuke snorted, turning his head to look at Naruto in mock disbelief. "I think I vaguely remember you saying that to Itachi a few hours ago."

Sasuke was fairly sure he hadn't passed out, but the details of what had happened after Naruto had punched Itachi were extremely hazy. He wondered if that's what a hangover was like.

"I did. I told Itachi if he only acted like a happy-little-fairy I would know better than to hit him than when acts like a psycho-emo-scary-dude. For some reason, he glared at me," Naruto said, obviously knowing full well why Itachi had glared at him.

Naruto stood by the window, looking out at the dim light coming through it. Sasuke squinted, looking at it for a moment. Despite his aching head, he felt strangely rested.

"It's not morning, is it?" Sasuke asked, realizing he was not seeing the light of dawn but rather the dying light at twilight.

"Nope. You slept all day. Me too. I guess everything just kinda hit me, and I was zoned out. Not to mention I spoke with Tsunade for a while. She's the doctor – and Jiraiya's wife..."

"And the one who spared the life of your father," Sasuke said, reminiscing. Naruto turned his head to the side.

"Yeah. She's the xiangu whose other name is Gangshou. She goes by Tsunade now. She remembers a lot. She had a lot of stories to tell me," Naruto said, his eyes set in a far away place. A small part of Sasuke wished that he could have been with Naruto to hear it. A larger part knew that Naruto, with his extremely talkative nature, would relay it to him in due time.

"What are we doing now?" Sasuke asked, his eyes set to stare at the ceiling.

"We're talking," Naruto grinned.

"Dumb ass. What are our plans? Where do we go from here? My father is missing. Your parents...I know you want to look for them both. And I have a feeling Kyuubi is going to come looking for you as well. I don't want to sit around on my ass waiting for things to keep coming after us."

"Yeah, especially since the trolls are still out there after me too," Naruto added.

"There's so much to do," Sasuke murmured. "I-" He sat up, his head spinning as he did so. Naruto was at his side in an instant. His hands were outstretched and ready to touch him, but he hesitated.

Sasuke looked at Naruto, seeing the strange longing in his eyes, wondering if it was because Naruto wanted to touch him only because he wasn't allowed, or if Naruto, like him, desired for them to be more.

For a moment Naruto's aura seemed to shiver as though it wanted to reach out to him. Sasuke's eyes locked onto Naruto's. Naruto's breath hitched. Sasuke felt strangely exposed, as though by merely looking into his eyes, Naruto could see the conflicting emotions inside him. The desire and the care – the love he had for his best friend – just sitting there. And the strange and stinging feeling of hate that Naruto was practically controlling and over-ruling the rational thoughts that Sasuke should be having.

"Whoops! Almost forgot," Naruto said, putting his hands in his pockets to prevent him from reaching out. "So much we don't know about what we can do."

"No kidding," Sasuke agreed. He propped himself up on his own.

"Those daoshi really took a lot out of you."

A slight pop followed by a puff of smoke filled the room.

"Yo!" Kakashi greeted again, still holding the book he'd been reading earlier. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him.

"Do you always pop up when daoshi is mentioned?" Sasuke asked, annoyed. Kakashi merely grinned cryptically in response.

"You're like, a genie," Naruto said, looking at Kakashi. Kakashi turned to look at Naruto and smiled.

"I like you," Kakashi said to Naruto's genie reference before turning his one eyed gaze onto Sasuke. "Not so sure about you."

Sasuke resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Speaking of eyes...he looked at the eye patch over Kakashi, wondering if he'd lost it to the daoshi. They were eye snatchers. And they were after his eyes and Itachi's – but why?

"We share the same sentiments. Why are the daoshi after my eyes? Why not Naruto's? And why Itachi's? Does it have to do with our heritage?" Sasuke asked.

"They enjoy fire fairies with special eye abilities. You happen to have them. Itachi's fairly apt at them, and he assures me you have the potential when trained. Training will help keep the daoshi at bay. They can sense your inability to protect yourself from them as your aura does not resonate the proper defenses."

"Because I'm weak," Sasuke murmured.

"Untrained. There's a difference. But you do seem a bit flimsy at the moment," Kakashi noted, tilting the corner of his book at Sasuke for emphasis.

"Can Itachi or Aunt Mikoto train us on how to use whatever it is? Our magic or power?" Naruto asked.

"Hmm. No on both accounts. Itachi has other business to attend. While your father did his best to blend into the normal human scene, Itachi, by contrast, got involved in going after the source of the trolls and destroy the threat. He had prior duties to attend to. Mikoto, while normally an apt woman, is going to be detained for some time due to how badly the trolls hurt her. Jiraiya and I, on the other hand, are going to be taking a special interest in helping to develop your abilities. That way you can figure out where you want to go from here."

"Will we miss a lot of school?" Naruto asked, curious. Sasuke turned to look at his friend in disbelief.

"How can you think we're going back to school after all this?" Sasuke demanded.

"Won't it seem odd if we just disappear?" Naruto said, crossing his arms.

"Did you forget the house was destroyed?" Sasuke asked, his eye twitching. Leave it to Naruto to forget their agonizing hours trapped in their house with their flashlights trained on the trolls and then flying to freedom barely in the nick of time.

"Oh, yeah. I did kinda forget," Naruto said, looking stricken.

"So, you're going to be teaching us?" Sasuke asked. "Why you?"

"All in good time, my wee apprentice," Kakashi said, grinning at him through his strange mask.

"I haven't got anything better to do, and Tsunade said that Sasuke should try and start getting on his feet as much as possible to burn away the poison - "

"She did?" Sasuke asked.

" - so why don't you start training us now, sensei?"

Fleetingly Sasuke remembered that Kyuubi had offered to train Naruto. There was something in the way that Naruto requested the training that seemed more resigned rather than excited. His gut feeling told him that Naruto hadn't forgotten Kyuubi's offer, and it made Sasuke wary of Naruto's desire to train. This Kakashi guy had better be good; Sasuke feared Naruto would go elsewhere if it didn't suit his needs.

Naruto shot him a concerned look and then rolled his eyes as though he could read Sasuke's mind.

"I'm not going anywhere," Naruto assured him.

"We will start tomorrow night. We're going to switch your sleeping habits. You will sleep during the day and train during the night," Kakashi explained, though he raised an eyebrow at the strange exchange going on between his two would-be students.

"At night?" Sasuke asked.

"It will give you another 24 hours to heal. Besides, what you will need to be trained most against comes out only after dark."

A slight welling of fear and anticipation built up inside Sasuke. He quickly squashed it. He was tired of being afraid of the dark. He was going to do his best to set things right.

His eyes darted over to Naruto who looked beyond excited. They would learn how to use their magical powers (Sasuke snorted even as he thought that term), but more importantly re-establish control over their lives.

And then, when that was all settled, he would make sure Naruto realized they were better _together_ than apart.

* * *

_"Only by facing that which goes bump in the night can we get over our fear and get rid of it once and for all." ~ Jelp_

* * *

**Next Chapter: To the Trained Eye**

Gaaaah. This seemed to take forever to write. In all honesty, it was all written in about a day, but the concept of this chapter took forever to form cohesively. Once it did, then it basically wrote itself, which is always nice. Now if it would just edit and post itself too that would be wonderful!

Anyway, time jump next chapter! It will be after Sasuke and Naruto have already had a fair amount of training in order to focus on more juicy stuff. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! ~ Jelp


	13. Chapter 13: To the Trained Eye

**Afraid of the Dark**

**Chapter 13: To the Trained Eye**

* * *

_"Last night you were, unhinged. You were like some desperate, howling demon. You frightened me...Do it again."_

_- Morticia Addams (Angelica Houston) from Addams Family Values._

* * *

"Stop."

Sasuke heard the voice, heard the sharp edge of the warning promising punishment if he didn't; he heard the exasperation of having to say stop again, but Sasuke didn't care.

Kakashi made a final warning noise that Sasuke needed to stop. Sasuke refused to listen.

The sweat poured down his body, a sign after nearly two years of constant training that meant he had been working out for several hours. He could feel the pull in his muscles as his body moved in ways that had quickly become second nature, overusing the same movements and taxing his body. His body reacted on instinct before his mind had time to catch up as an open fist came out to block his movements.

Whenever Kakashi tried to block him to stop his training Sasuke usually just side-stepped him. If he was in the mood to train, his highly-skilled teacher did not deter him. However, when Sasuke saw that it was Naruto's hand that came to block him from going on, he stilled enough only to grasp his friend's wrist and pull Naruto closer.

It was one thing when Kakashi interfered when he was in the mood to train; it was very different when Naruto willingly put his body in front of Sasuke's. Usually Sasuke would stop training for his best friend. However, on some occasions, on occasions like today, having Naruto interrupt him only fueled his need to train and fight harder.

Naruto should have been taken by surprise that Sasuke hadn't stopped like usual. Or maybe Naruto had tried to interfere in order to trigger a fight. At least, that's what Sasuke hoped.

Sasuke's knee only brushed the side of Naruto's leg, Naruto already rolling away from Sasuke's sudden attack. In a rush, Naruto twisted around so his body was angled with his left shoulder facing forward. The angle allowed Naruto's right hand to be in prime attack position, his left hand ready to block in defense, and his body was angled leaving a smaller target area for Sasuke to lash out on.

Feeling rash, Sasuke, on the other hand, stood with his legs slightly apart, balanced in his stance, but leaving his entire body open for a full onslaught. Naruto's eyes darkened upon seeing Sasuke's open invitation. Sasuke had left himself exposed on purpose. Naruto's shoulders were drawn back, ready to strike. His hand darted out to go for the easy blow. Sasuke had already prepared himself, willing Naruto to strike him, punch him, just to at least _touch_ him. Oh, how he wanted Naruto's hands on him.

The blow never came.

Sasuke glared angrily as he felt the restricting grip of Kakashi's fingers digging into his shoulders. Kakashi even had one foot positioned to push him forward if Sasuke moved his feet. Sasuke cursed his earlier position and his one-track mind. He had wanted Naruto to be able to attack him, but it left him open for someone to overpower him from behind. His focus had been too into goading Naruto.

Apparently, Kakashi really didn't want him to continue with the spar. But that was nothing compared to the surge of almost betrayal he felt as he looked at Naruto. Rage burned inside him as he glared at the pale grip holding Naruto's hands from attacking him, the long fingers restraining Naruto so they couldn't spar.

Itachi's facial expression did not change as he locked onto Sasuke's glaring eyes.

Naruto, on the other hand, looked quizzically at Kakashi restraining Sasuke to turn his head to see who was therefore restraining him. His eyes lit up, causing Sasuke to glower jealously at the excitement on Naruto's face. Itachi's grip loosened, letting Naruto go free. Sasuke didn't miss the red marks on Naruto's arms, showing how hard Itachi had had to grip in order to restrain Naruto's strength. Nor did he miss the way Itachi subtly rolled his shoulder. At least Naruto had given Itachi a run for his money. It seemed the quick grab had pulled Itachi's shoulder out. It made Sasuke happy that Naruto, even taken by surprise, had still injured Itachi.

"Itachi! What are you doing here? Haven't seen you in almost a month!" Naruto said, completely undisturbed at Itachi interrupting their impromptu spar. "I was so confused. I was like, uh, if Kakashi is over there holding Sasuke back, who the fuck is holding me?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, not at all happy at Naruto's choice of wording.

"I came to see you, naturally. I was rather surprised that you two were still down here. While I'm glad that you have been using the training facility Jiraiya added to his house for you both, I'm sure that it would also be nice if you stopped once in a while to eat."

"We were going to come up for dinner, but Sasuke wanted to keep training," Kakashi said happily, his hands still firmly pressing into Sasuke's shoulders. His foot moved into Sasuke's heel, making him spread his feet apart wider and lose his balance if he chose to attack from such a wide positioned stance. Sasuke took a deep breath. He realized that he was still positioned to attack even after it was clear that Naruto was no longer going to fight him. Of course, Sasuke also knew that it wasn't Naruto that his fingers itched to maim. He took another calming breath, schooled his features, and did his best to dispel the rage that had come from watching Itachi touch Naruto while relaxing his muscles.

Kakashi finally stepped back from Sasuke after feeling the process of Sasuke getting a grip on himself.

"Where have you been for the past month?" Sasuke demanded bluntly.

"Another scouting mission, as well as taking care of an issue with a few people from your old high-school trying to delve deeper into what happened with your disappearance."

Naruto was about to ask questions, but Kakashi quickly distracted him.

"Why don't we get cleaned up and head upstairs. I'm sure everyone is excited for a chance to celebrate," Kakashi said warmly, smiling at Naruto. Naruto beamed.

"You're staying for dinner, right?" Naruto asked Itachi. Itachi nodded.

"I told you I had stopped by to see you. Not every day my non-otouto turns 20."

* * *

Sasuke knew he should be glad to see Itachi again. He had been gone for a month searching new leads as to where their father had disappeared to. Yet the fact that Itachi had appeared again on Naruto's birthday left a bitter taste in Sasuke's mouth.

Over the past two years, he and Naruto had dedicated most of their time to training in the Hidden Village of Minato. It was only in one of the hidden villages of fairy that they were safe until they had trained enough to fight trolls and anyone else that might be after Naruto.

Yet Sasuke was feeling restless. He wanted to be able to leave the village just as Itachi did. It wasn't that he had to stay; it was just that Naruto wasn't supposed to leave, and Sasuke didn't trust leaving Naruto alone for long periods of time. Sasuke had a strong feeling that the next time he left Naruto by himself, something bad would happen to him. Not to mention, Naruto was under the disillusioned idea that those who had hurt Kushina would one day come back for him – and that they would somehow use Sasuke as a hostage to get Naruto to come with them. It was ridiculous, but it placated Naruto that he stayed.

Itachi coming and going as he pleased annoyed Sasuke. He and Naruto weren't "strong" enough yet to go out on their own. He blamed both Itachi and his parents for hiding their abilities from them. If they had known when they were younger, just like Itachi had, then they would be more powerful and able to move about freely. Though personally Sasuke felt they were ready.

It also didn't help that it was two years ago today that their lives had been so brutally interrupted. Itachi had basically attempted to kidnap them which had resulted in a car accident that had nearly killed Sasuke. Their lives hadn't been the same since.

Not that Sasuke wanted to go back to being ignorant. On the contrary, he wished there were things that he and Naruto acted less ignorant about.

Sasuke couldn't help but scowl at the greeting Naruto had given Itachi. Sasuke loved Itachi. He was his brother, and he looked out for them. But watching Naruto's face light up when he saw Itachi, being so utterly delighted to see him struck an unwelcome and unwanted chord of jealousy inside his heart. The fact that he and Naruto pretended there was nothing going on between them hurt.

A few times, at Sasuke's prompting, there had been attempts for more between them.

Stolen touches during the night. A gentle brush of skin to skin that was less than innocent.

But Naruto always brushed them off in the end. He'd make up some excuse, some downright lie that it had been an accident. Whenever Sasuke confronted Naruto about it, he would say they _couldn't_ because of how it would only hurt them both in the end.

The only thing that was hurting Sasuke was that Naruto wasn't letting anything more develop. Sasuke had resolved to wait until they had more training. Naruto wouldn't be able to say that someone could use Sasuke as a victim to get to Naruto.

To watch how Naruto so enthusiastically greeted Itachi, knowing that there had been an incident where Itachi had been drawn less than innocently to Naruto made him feel sick to his stomach. He hated seeing his brother's hands on his best friend.

"What the fuck is your problem?" Naruto demanded, his arms crossed. Sasuke glared straight ahead, resolutely ignoring Naruto. He'd been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't realized both Itachi and Kakashi had taken a different route, leaving Sasuke and Naruto alone as they walked back from the underground training arena Jiraiya had built for them.

With the way that Naruto's chakra resonated when they trained, they had needed a secure location. Jiraiya has use his resources and – even after two years Sasuke felt weird saying it – magic to create a safe haven for them to practice.

"It's my birthday. You're not supposed to be such an asshole to the birthday boy," Naruto growled. Sasuke could feel the rage inside him building, but he quelled it. He knew that not responding to Naruto would only tick him off even more, so he completely expected it when Naruto made a physical move against him.

Even so, Sasuke had expected a punch or a kick, or even a blast of magic. What he didn't expect was to find his body pinned between the wall and Naruto's very warm and very inviting body.

Naruto's hands clenched Sasuke's shirt, balled up into fists as he clutched the fabric. His chest was heaving in his outright anger.

"What is wrong with you?" Naruto demanded, pushing Sasuke into the wall for emphasis. Sasuke looked off to the side. Naruto refused to listen to what was wrong with him. He refused, despite all they had been through, to see that Sasuke just wanted Naruto.

He didn't care anymore. He didn't care that they were (how he still loathed the thought) _fairies_. He didn't care about the damned trolls. He didn't care that they were stuck in this place. All he cared about was having Naruto. It was like a physical blow that Naruto still held some messed up delusion that they couldn't or shouldn't be together.

"Sasuke," Naruto said, his voice gentler as he took a guess as to what was bothering Sasuke. "Stop it. You know we can't-" Naruto stopped. Sasuke looked at him, seeing the way Naruto gazed at him with a painful longing.

"Fine. You can't," Sasuke said. Naruto was shocked that Sasuke actually agreed with him. He loosened his grip and stepped away from Sasuke.

"Er, right," Naruto agreed, slightly stunned at how Sasuke had just given up.

He should have known better.

Sasuke threw Naruto to the floor, pinning Naruto's hands above his head as he straddled Naruto.

"You can't. But I _can_," Sasuke growled, forcing his lips onto Naruto's.

And Naruto responded as he had expected. He fought back, biting Sasuke's lips, bucking his hips, struggling in his grasp before the bites turned to pants as Sasuke ground his hips downward. He could feel Naruto's growing arousal as he pressed his groin smoothly across Naruto's. Sasuke jerked his hips several more times for good measure, before nipping Naruto's lips. He pulled his mouth away from Naruto's, feeling the sting from the bites.

Sasuke stood up abruptly and continued to walk as though nothing had happened.

"Bastard!" Naruto called. Sasuke could hear him scramble to his feet. "What the hell was that?" Naruto demanded as he caught up to Sasuke, giving him a shove in the shoulder. Sasuke turned and shoved Naruto, this time pressing him against the wall as he pinned him briefly, forcing another hard, but much needed kiss, before walking off again.

He heard Naruto make some sort of shocked noise in the back of his throat before sputtering to catch up with him again.

"What's with you?" Naruto asked, leaving a fair amount of distance between them this time. Sasuke whirled around. Naruto halted in mid-step, looking startled and unsure of Sasuke's intentions.

"If you don't want to be molested every time I get the opportunity, then stay away from me. I'm tired of hearing your stupid excuses. I know the risks. I can take care of myself. It's not in your hands anymore. I'm in control now. The only out you have is to stay away from me. Do you want that?" Sasuke asked, feeling strangely calm. He was laying everything out. He couldn't stand the ache any more, the ache of Naruto being so close yet so far from him.

"I--" Naruto started, looking openly shocked. "You – you can't _do_ that. You can't force me to just - " Naruto made a motion with his hands, trying to convey his meaning when his words failed him.

"You can't keep pretending like what we feel doesn't exist," Sasuke said. He turned his back on Naruto, walking away from him again.

"Don't be like this," Naruto said, putting his hand gently on Sasuke's shoulders. "Please, just – just wait till later, okay? We'll talk about it. After dinner. Please, just for now, let's be normal and have a family birthday party like we used to, okay?"

Sasuke looked at Naruto, seeing the pleading in his eyes. How long had it been since they had acted like they were "normal"? It seemed like ages.

"Fine," Sasuke agreed, picking up his pace.

"Er, fine like as in you really agree this time, or fine like, you're going to do something rash like throwing me to the floor again?" Naruto asked. The remark was so like Naruto to say that Sasuke couldn't help but smile.

"Wait and see," Sasuke murmured.

"Bastard."

They walked back together in silence. It wasn't long before they could smell the tell-tale sign of Sasuke's mother cooking up a storm. Naruto inhaled deeply, his pace catching up as he caught a whiff of the delicious smells coming from the kitchen. Sasuke watched as Naruto stepped next to him. For a moment, Sasuke debated on pushing Naruto up against the wall. With a quick glance to his side, he could tell that while Naruto was happily inhaling the wonderful aroma, his body was positioned so that if Sasuke were to make a move, Naruto's body was positioned just so that he would have the upper hand if Sasuke tried to shove him into the wall again.

Part of Sasuke wanted to take that step, hoping to fight Naruto, to struggle with him as he fought to pin Naruto – or maybe to have Naruto pin him.

They entered Jiraiya's dining room, the food already spread out like a feast. The room was spacious for a normal dining room; then again Jiraiya and Tsunade were (as far as Sasuke could tell from his limited interest) in charge of the Hidden Village of Minato. Well, Tsunade was more so than Jiraiya, though Sasuke found them both intriguingly irresponsible.

Even though Naruto had taken an instant liking to Jiraiya and Tsunade and their stories, Sasuke remained withdrawn, uninterested in them and the history of the village and the past of the fairies. He knew the gist of the story, that Jiraiya and Tsunade were both incredibly old, and that Naruto's father was somehow linked with them. While Kakashi was in charge of most of their training, Jiraiya trained Naruto in basic sage magic – Naruto excelled in sage and wind magic while Sasuke excelled in fire and lightening magic. It surprised Sasuke. Sasuke was sure that Naruto's mother had been a muse fire-fairy too. Yet Naruto wasn't very good at fire magic. Tsunade was renown for her medicinal magic. She'd tried teaching Sasuke and Naruto how to control their healing abilities, but for the most part, she actually discouraged them from using it.

Yet while they were old (and supposed to be wise and experienced and all that other ancient nonsense) Sasuke wasn't particularly fond of either of them. Jiraiya was lewd to the point that it made Sasuke uncomfortable, and Tsunade – though he would never admit this to her face in fear of her quick temper – had a bit of a drinking and gambling problem. If someone was so blessed with "ancient wisdom," Sasuke failed to see how a few thousand years hadn't given them enough time to fix their bad habits.

"What took you so long?" Mikoto asked excitedly. Itachi and Kakashi were already seated at the table next to Jiraiya and Ibiki. Neither Sasuke nor Naruto said anything. A few suspicious glances got thrown their way, but knowing the two of them, everyone at the table knew better than to press the issue.

* * *

"Why are you being such an asshole?" Naruto growled. He stood in the doorway of his bedroom, staring into Sasuke's dark eyes. Sasuke looked up, staring back at the birthday boy from where he lounged on Naruto's bed.

Sasuke couldn't decide which desire was stronger: the desire to punch Naruto or to force a kiss against his lips. He felt like they were an old married couple bickering before bedtime. Even though they had separate rooms, more often than not, they found themselves still sharing one bed or the other. Sasuke sneered. As though that didn't make things more complicated than they already were.

"You were quiet all through dinner, glaring evilly at Itachi, and now you're just lying on my bed in my room," Naruto hissed. "I'm tired, and I want to go to sleep. Go back to your own room."

"No," Sasuke said. "You said we'd talk tonight. It's tonight."

"What the fuck? I'm tired. You pushed us both too hard today-"

"You saying you can't take the training?" Sasuke taunted.

"No, I can take the training, but not your prissy attitude," Naruto bristled at the mere implication that Sasuke thought him weak. Even though they both knew they were on even footing, neither liked when the other implied one was better.

"Fine, if you don't want your birthday present, I'll leave," Sasuke said, standing up slowly, waiting.

"Wait, what? You got me a birthday present? Where is it?" Naruto asked excitedly. Sasuke had known how Naruto would react at the idea of getting a birthday present. Every year he got something for Naruto, but Naruto was never one to ask for it. Frankly, part of Sasuke wondered if the reason Naruto was so annoyed with him was because Sasuke hadn't given him a gift yet.

"It's under your bed," Sasuke said. He waited as Naruto got on his hands and knees, looking underneath the bed spread. His face lit up as he saw the wrapped gift waiting there for him. Sasuke turned his face away, feeling slightly guilty at the look of utter excitement on Naruto's face.

"It's heavy," Naruto noted happily, placing the package on the bed before he quickly tore off the wrapping paper. His face changed from excited to confused to blank in a few short moments. Naruto didn't bother tearing off the rest of the wrapping paper having seen the gift Sasuke got him.

Instead, Naruto turned his face to the side, standing by the bed, looking away from both the gift and Sasuke. He clenched his fists several times. Sasuke watched as Naruto visibly calmed himself down before looking at Sasuke.

"A black light?" Naruto murmured quietly.

"I know you want me almost as much as I want you. What you can't get over is losing people. Your Mom. Your Dad. Knowing that something could happen to me if you're not around. I'm not stupid. This is about the fact that you can't deal with knowing that the reason your parents are dead or missing is because of you. I can't deal with you acting like I can't take care of myself. It won't be your fault. It'll be mine. Stop keeping your fucking distance. Use it to stop worrying."

"You're telling me to cloud over my mind, for what?" Naruto asked angrily. "It's not real. It's just stupid. What we want has nothing to do with how this stupid light makes us feel."

"Bullshit. You're just too scared to try. I'm giving you an out to not think about it just once. Let the fears go. Figure it out. You have the rest of the night to think about it," Sasuke said. He walked to the door, but Naruto called out to him before he left.

"And what if I don't decide by then?" Naruto asked. Sasuke didn't look at him.

"If you can't decide, then it's a no."

"Then what?" Naruto asked, a tone of panic in his voice. "You're planning something stupid, aren't you?"

"Nothing as stupid as you being unable to make up your mind," Sasuke said quietly before walking down the hall to his room.

After he flipped on the small light by his bed, he slipped into loose fitted pajama pants and lied down. Usually he or Naruto ended up finding their way to the same bed. Personally, Sasuke liked the feel of his bed, but he didn't mind sharing Naruto's. Then again, he also liked it when Naruto came to him.

To Sasuke, it was obvious that Naruto was only keeping his feelings at bay because he feared for Sasuke. What Sasuke didn't understand was Naruto's train of thought. He was already his best friend. That alone put him at risk if someone was going to use him against Naruto. The only thing Sasuke thought might be causing Naruto to hesitate was if he didn't want to be forced into anything. After all, Fugaku had tried to manipulate them. But Sasuke was doing his best to show Naruto that he was serious. This was their decision – even if Sasuke was heavily influencing what Naruto's decision was. What irked him the most was that Naruto thought Sasuke couldn't take care of himself if something did happen to him. Naruto's lack of faith hurt almost as bad as his blatant rejections.

After only a few minutes of brooding, Sasuke's door opened. Naruto entered the room, closing and locking the door behind him. Sasuke couldn't help but feel surprised. He had expected Naruto to deliberate for a while, and he hated to admit that an even larger part of him had expected Naruto not to come.

Naruto had taken off his shirt, leaving his chest bare. His sleep pants hung loose around his hips. The happy trail that started just above the tie of the flannel pajama bottoms caught Sasuke's attention.

"You came," Sasuke noted, feeling smugly elated.

Naruto didn't say anything. He walked over to the bed. Instead of lying down on his side as Sasuke expected, he climbed on at the foot of the bed. His arms and legs straddled Sasuke's body as he crawled sensually forward.

For a moment, Sasuke wondered if he had fallen asleep. Naruto looked seductive as his body sidled up his slowly like a predator stalking its prey. His eyes were focused and intense with passion as they locked onto Sasuke's eyes. Sasuke's body responded warmly to Naruto's actions. Even though he'd wanted this, he was surprised that Naruto seemed to be jumping right into things after he had vehemently been denying what they had both wanted for so long.

When Naruto's hands were on either side of Sasuke's face, his hips hovering slightly over Sasuke's, their naked chests brushing lightly together, Naruto finally spoke.

"What are you planning?" Naruto demanded.

Sasuke's eyes snapped up from where he had been looking at their hips almost brushing to stare up into Naruto's eyes. Naruto's eyes were unyielding. Sasuke glared at him. He didn't like Naruto acting so sexual, teasing him with a promise of more, and then taking it away from him. His heart was being toyed with, and he didn't like it.

Naruto was doing this to get his attention, not because he wanted to have sex.

"Get off me," Sasuke snarled. He didn't wait for Naruto to react before giving him a shove that made him land flat on his back on his side of the bed.

"What the fuck?" Naruto growled angrily. Sasuke rolled over and straddled his legs against Naruto's hips. Tan arms shot out to push Sasuke off. They grappled with each other for a moment, before Naruto twisted Sasuke's left arm harshly out, while Sasuke twisted Naruto's left arm up and closer to his body.

Naruto bucked his hips upward to push the extra body off his, but Sasuke pushed back just as hard. They bucked their hips together for a bit, Sasuke rolling into Naruto's movements. Naruto's face went slack as he realized what position Sasuke had forced them into. He stopped his movements but Sasuke kept right on pressing their hips together. Beneath him, he could feel Naruto's cock getting harder against his own blood-filled arousal.

"Ow, fuck! Stop!" Naruto growled even as a blush graced his cheeks. "It's stuck to the side."

Sasuke stopped immediately and released Naruto's hands. He grinned down smugly, watching as Naruto's hand shot down to adjust his cock which had gotten stuck in between their bodies as it had hardened. While Sasuke could empathize with the pain of getting one's dick stuck in an uncomfortable position after getting hard, he couldn't help but relish in the fact that Naruto had gotten hard during their grinding in the first place.

The moment didn't last. Sasuke only had a moment to duck before Naruto's fist rammed into his face. The bed creaked and groaned beneath them as they began to wrestle on the bed. Their bodies slid over the sheets, scrunching them up till their limbs were getting tangled in the sheets.

"Will you just listen?" Naruto yelled.

"You punched me," Sasuke pointed out, bluntly refusing to listen to Naruto as he gave a low blow and elbowed him in the stomach. Naruto wheezed before rolling over and off the bed. He landed on his feet crouched and ready.

Sasuke had to untangle his left leg from the bed before he'd be able to jump after Naruto. Sadly, Naruto didn't plan on waiting for him. He grabbed the sheets and pulled the blankets and thus Sasuke with his leg still entangled off the bed. Sasuke landed heavily and awkwardly. Quickly grabbing the covers, Sasuke tugged at them, pulling them from Naruto's grip. The unexpected tug had Naruto stumbling forward. He landed on top of Sasuke in a heap of limbs and twisted covers.

Cursing, Sasuke shoved out at Naruto, feeling awkward in the tangle of blankets. After his punches and kicks through the blanket fell soft and muted into the cloth between them, Sasuke managed to wrestle his leg free. He gave an upward jab with his foot, feeling it connect with force. He heard Naruto knock into the wall before landing heavily with a sickening crack.

"Shit that hurts!" Naruto's gasp of pain gave Sasuke pause. When he didn't feel Naruto try and hit him in the mass of blankets, Sasuke was able to quickly throw the covers off.

Naruto hadn't gotten up from the floor. He sat huddled, cradling his elbow. Sasuke's eyes widened slightly. The bend of his elbow looked horribly wrong. Instead of connecting at a point where the upper and lower arm joined, his elbow had hyper extended so the joint hung out distorted.

"I'll go get Tsunade," Sasuke said quietly as he began to walk out of the room.

"No! Come back here you asshole!" Part of Sasuke was tempted to keep going, but the anger in Naruto's voice, and the small amount of guilt he really did not want to feel, made him go back into the room and listen to Naruto yell at him. He really should go back and say he was sorry.

"You shouldn't have attacked me, idiot," Sasuke growled. He should say sorry, but he really didn't feel like it. Naruto ground his teeth together, but if it was due to pain or the annoyance he felt at Sasuke, Sasuke wasn't sure. Probably both.

"This is half your fault for not listening to me, so sit your ass down, and listen for once!" Naruto yelled out. Using only his legs, he got off the floor and sat on the bed. The area around the elbow had started to swell. Naruto healed fast, so to see just how bad it looked made Sasuke concerned with the damage that had been done. It looked like he had dislocated his elbow, something that could cause him to lose full range of motion in his arm.

Sasuke sat down on the bed. Naruto held out his arm to him expectantly.

"What do you want me to do?" Sasuke asked. Naruto glared at him.

"Fix it! We can heal each other. And you call me the dumb one," Naruto said.

"I'll have to set it so it doesn't heal at that angle."

"So set it!" Naruto said through gritted teeth. Sweat was beginning to roll down the side of his face. Sasuke was sure that was a bad sign.

Sasuke looked down at Naruto's elbow. He raised his eyebrows at Naruto in question. From his position alone, it would be difficult to grip Naruto in such a way so that he could put it back into place.

"I'll go get Tsunade," Sasuke repeated. Naruto shot out his hand and gripped Sasuke's arm to stop him. Sasuke felt a ripple go through his body. Naruto's aura shone suddenly bright gold. He was used to seeing Naruto's aura in the village that he didn't think much of it, but there were times like this, especially when one of them needed to be healed, that it spiked in a blaze of gold.

Naruto's face relaxed at the relief. He moved his injured arm out, and loosely gripped his fingers around Sasuke's bicep. Sasuke stayed still, his body stiff. Without warning, Naruto pushed against Sasuke and harshly snapped his injured arm back into place. The crack and slide of muscles and bones being put back resonated through the air. Naruto's elbow was still swollen, but it looked like a normal joint again. Naruto let go of Sasuke's arm to flex his muscles and immediately let out a gasp of pain. His fingers quickly re-gripped Sasuke's arm.

"Idiot."

But Sasuke couldn't help but look at Naruto's arm in wonder. The bones and muscles shouldn't have been able to go back into place with such a simple movement. Tsunade refused to let them injure themselves to test just how far their healing powers could go, but Sasuke was sure that they could heal almost any injury. After all, Sasuke was sure he would be dead if Naruto hadn't saved him from the car crash, not to mention that Sasuke had kept Naruto alive after his troll wound all those years ago.

The injury must have been painful because Naruto didn't let go for a while. And in fact, Sasuke was starting to feel a bit light-headed at the sensation. They didn't do this often. Tsunade said it would drain their magic by doing it for long periods of time which was strange because every time they did, it made them both feel so much better afterward.

When he was looking for it, Sasuke's eyes could see Naruto's aura easily. Naruto claimed that he couldn't see Sasuke's. Sasuke had once asked the other people they lived with if they could see auras so easily. They could feel them (though Sasuke didn't understand what that meant), but no one else but Itachi had been able to see them. His mother had explained that it was a special gift that his father had passed onto them.

The golden glow always fascinated him, like a moth drawn to the flame. He couldn't help but reach out and stroke the glow around Naruto. Naruto shuddered when he did it, but he didn't tell him to stop. In fact, Naruto's body seemed to go even more lax as he lightly stroked his fingers all around the hazy edges of his friend's aura.

Sasuke noted that Naruto's eyes were drooping lazily. His elbow looked completely normal again. Gently, slowly, Sasuke laid Naruto down on the bed. He pulled his hands away to adjust himself on top of Naruto.

"Don't leave," Naruto pleaded. Sasuke looked down at Naruto, wondering why on earth Naruto thought he was going to leave when Naruto was being so compliant for once. Sasuke leaned down, letting his lips press softly against Naruto's. For a moment, Naruto didn't respond before his hand came up and lightly ran his fingers through Sasuke's hands, moving his lips against Sasuke's.

Running his tongue along Naruto's lips, Sasuke was surprised at how soft they felt. It felt good to kiss and suck Naruto's lower lip, as though the pressure of their lips built up the pressure of pleasure in his groin. He broke the kiss softly.

"I'm not going anywhere," Sasuke promised. One hand continued to trail along Naruto's aura, while his other hand began to touch the bare skin across Naruto's chest.

Naruto let out a gratifying moan, his hands gripping Sasuke's sides. His fingers dipped inside Sasuke's pajama bottoms, kneading his lower back and the top of his cheeks. Sasuke moaned as Naruto's fingers worked out the tension, leaving him feeling loose and at ease.

With their world filled with uncertainty and constant training, to be able to simply let down their guard with each other was the most blissful form of release.

Naruto's fingers began to roll the soft material of Sasuke's pants down his hips. Sasuke gasped as his cock bounced out of the pants, slapping against the skin of Naruto's stomach. He stood up and pulled his pants all the way down before grabbing the waist band of Naruto's pants and tugging them off as well.

Naruto looked slightly stunned as though he realized he was getting lost in the thrall of the moment, but Sasuke wasn't about to let him get out of the feeling. Sasuke climbed on top of Naruto, their naked bodies pressed flushed against each other. It seemed that being so connected to each other was an aphrodisiac by itself.

The feeling of skin to skin alone had them both gasping. Sasuke could feel the pull of his body, his own aura, reacting to the full contact of Naruto's aura. Being connected to Naruto like this, having their bodies touching and their auras mixing, that was what Sasuke felt peace was supposed to be like. Naruto could never share that intimacy with anyone but him. Maybe Naruto was finally starting to realize that.

Naruto's hips bucked upward, and Sasuke groaned as their cocks slid along the length of each other. Their lips connected slowly and sensually while the rest of their body began the frenzy of finding true, blissful release.

Sasuke groaned in pleasure into the kiss as he felt Naruto spreading his legs wider. Their grinding paused. Spitting into his hand, Naruto quickly coated his arousal. Naruto's fingers dug into Sasuke's ass, gripping his cheeks tightly as he pulled them apart before he pushed Sasuke's body upward slightly with his hips. They both gasped in anticipation before Naruto pressed into him. Sasuke winced at the pressure. He gritted his teeth at the burning sensation, but with Naruto keeping his hands on his ass the entire, the pain slowly faded. Naruto's aura glowed golden as he unconsciously healed Sasuke. Naruto moved slowly in, uncertainly at first, before picking up speed. His hands let go of Sasuke's cheeks before moving to grip at his waist. Sasuke's insides went from feeling the slight burn to almost numb at the healing before pleasure began to build.

Sasuke kept his body close to Naruto's, letting his arousal press between their bodies, getting friction as they moved back and forth. Naruto's breathing sped up as his fingers raked down Sasuke's back. He gripped at Sasuke's back even as Sasuke relished in the harsh touch. Rolling his hips down against Naruto as he rolled his up, both grunted and groaned in pleasure. Sasuke smirked as Naruto gave a guttural cry when he squeezed his inside muscles tightly against Naruto, creating more friction for the both of them as Naruto thrusts became harsher and deeper. Naruto gripped Sasuke's cock and began to pump at it harshly.

What had started off soft and unsure quickly turned more forceful and frantic. Sasuke wound his fingers through Naruto's hair and bit down on the pressure point of Naruto's neck and shoulder, trapping Naruto's jerking hand between their bodies.

The force at which he bit Naruto should have bruised him, even broken the skin, but instead their connection kept Naruto from hurting. In fact, with the way Naruto's hips bucked up and into Sasuke, Sasuke was certain it felt far from painful. While Naruto's one had continued to awkwardly jerk Sasuke off, his other hand had a bruising grip on holding Sasuke's ass tighter against him, doing his best to get inside Sasuke as hard and deep as possible.

With the force of Naruto slamming into him and the way Sasuke squeezed his muscles around Naruto, neither of them lasted long. Sasuke was sure that Naruto orgasmed first, but when the pleasure washed over Naruto the feelings and emotions poured through his aura and into Sasuke. Sasuke tightened around Naruto, brushing his cock against the silky smoothness yet taut hardness of Naruto's hand and stomach muscles. He came only a moment later, and he could feel his whole body shaking with the force of coming.

Blearily he opened his eyes as his body still lurched forward in time with the waves of his release. Naruto's aura was shimmering almost white with how bright it had gotten before dying down to its usual golden glow. Sasuke slumped exhausted on top of Naruto. He debated with staying there before he grudgingly rolled off. He immediately regretted it when Naruto rolled on top of him and laid there like deadweight. Growling, Sasuke shoved him, so Naruto was only half on top of him. He was used to Naruto using him like a body pillow, but if Naruto was as tired as Sasuke suddenly felt, he would wake up numb if he allowed him to fall asleep like that.

Naruto gripped Sasuke's upper arm and murmured against Sasuke's chest.

"Don't leave," Naruto repeated again. Sasuke would have asked him why he kept saying that, but he was just too tired and sated to care too much about it. As he drifted off to sleep with a smug smirk on his face, the thought slipped completely from his mind.

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_"A blissful moment it sadly just that – a moment." ~ Jelp_

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**Next Chapter: Leaving**

Ah Sasuke. You should have listened to Naruto first. Anyway, what'd you think? ~ Jelp


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